• Learn about the science of memory and key legal issues, including:
  -- Rules of evidence
  -- Limitations of profiles and syndromes
  -- Competent interviewing and line-up techniques
  -- Application of eyewitness research
  -- Methods of cross-examination of eyewitnesses
• Examine the factors which affect the reliability of both children's and adults' eyewitness testimony
• Gain insight into how conviction rates can be improved by incorporating science into forensic practice that will increase the accuracy of eye witness identification evidence and testimony

Mistaken identifications are the largest single cause of wrongful convictions of innocent people. Eyewitness evidence, like forms of physical trace evidence, can be contaminated, lost, destroyed, or otherwise made to produce results that can lead to an incorrect reconstruction of the event in question. Like physical trace evidence, the manner in which memory trace evidence is collected can have important consequences for the accuracy of the results, and errors may result in profound miscarriage of justice.

Investigative protocols for collecting, preserving, and interpreting eyewitness evidence and testimony have too often been developed without input from memory experts. Social scientists have demonstrated that peoples' reports of events can be rendered uninterpretable when certain techniques are used to elicit information (e.g., confoundings, biased instructions, failure of interviewer to have alternative hypotheses, selective recording of results, etc.) But we do NOT find presently in our criminal justice system police conducting a line-up following a scientific protocol involving mock witness pre-testing of fillers, doubleblind testing procedures, carefully worded instructions, convergent measures, videotaping, careful documentation of records, and an interpretational framework for the identification responses.

Efforts to create effective programs to reduce crime, assist victims, and punish those who harm others must be based on fact rather than prejudice, on science rather than hysteria, and on reason and rationality rather than political ideology. But we do NOT find presently investigations, especially of child sexual abuse, which reflect the knowledge that memory reports are readily influenced by post-event information, are very susceptible to suggestion, and can err in numerous ways, including reports of entire events that were never witnessed. Convictions of child sexual abuse in our judicial system are often based solely on the "eyewitness" testimony of children who have been subjected to leading, suggestive interviewing.

This conference will address the issues involved in eliciting information from witnesses, both adults and children, and offer suggestions for incorporating scientific knowledge into forensic practice. It will examine the factors which affect the reliability of both children’s and adults’ eyewitness testimony. Participants will learn about the science of memory and key legal issues, including rules of evidence, limitations of profiles and syndromes, competent interviewing and line-up techniques, and methods of cross examination of eyewitness.

By attending this conference you will gain an insight into how conviction rates can be improved by incorporating science into forensic practice, increasing the accuracy of eyewitness identification evidence and testimony, and thereby enhancing the rationality of verdicts and allowing for the exoneration of innocent people who have been convicted as a result of prosecutorial zeal and failures of the justice system.

Brian Bigelow, Ph.D.

Brian Bigelow is a Full Professor in the Department of Psychology at Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada. His research interests include: social cognition, its development and function in children and adolescents; friendship; social relations between children and other children, between children and teachers, and between children and parents. He was a featured speaker at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in 1999. He has published articles in the Journal of Forensic Sciences, Psychiatric Opinion, and Forensic Echo.

Richard A. Hansen, Esq.

Richard Hansen has extensive trial and appellate experience in both state and federal court, including the United States Supreme Court. He has tried nearly 100 jury cases over the past 25 years and he has been counsel of record in nearly 100 appeals. His experience encompasses a full range of cases from aggravated murder to white collar and environmental crimes, and his clients have included doctors, lawyers, politicians, athletes, and prominent members of the business community. In recent years, he has handled many large and complex cases, including the first state racketeering prosecution, difficult murder and vehicular homicide trials requiring scientific and technical expertise, and bank fraud charges with voluminous documentary evidence. He has been ranked in the top 1% of criminal defense lawyers in the United States by The Best Lawyers in America, Woodward/White, Inc., in every edition since it was first published in 1990. He was elected to the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Elizabeth F. Loftus, Ph.D.

Beth received the William James Fellow Award, American Psychological Society, in 2001 for "ingeniously and rigorously designed research studies that yielded clear objective evidence on difficult and controversial questions." She also won the Sexual Sanity Award in January, 2001, "in appreciation for research, testimony, and public education challenging irrational fear, professional malfeasance & harmful political propaganda in the areas of repressed memory and childhood sexuality." Beth has had over eight book chapters published recently, as well as a supplement to her 1999 book Eyewitness Testimony: Civil and Criminal with Doyle, J.M. Beth is a member of the editorial or advisory board for seven profession journals, including the new journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest. She is also a member of the Scientific and Professional Advisory Board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation. She is the author of The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse and Witness for the Defense: The Accused, the Eyewitness and the Expert Who Puts Memory on Trial.

Jacqueline McMurtrie

Jacqueline McMurtrie joined the University of Washington School of Law faculty in 1989 after a career as a public defender. She teaches Criminal Law and directs the Innocence Project Northwest Clinic. Since its formation in 1997, IPNW has secured the release of 11 wrongly convicted inmates. McMurtrie's work has been honored by the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Law Journal. She is a 2002 recipient of the University of Washington School of Law's Phillip A. Trautman Professor of the Year.

Gary L. Wells, Ph.D.

Gary L. Wells, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University, is an internationally recognized scholar in scientific psychology and his studies of eyewitness memory are widely known and cited. Wells has authored over 100 articles and chapters and two books. His findings have been incorporated into standard textbooks in psychology and law. His studies demonstrate that rates of mistaken eyewitness identification can be exacerbated by the methods that crime investigators use in conducting lineups and photo spreads. His theories and staged-crime experiments led to the development of the sequential lineup and the use of double-blind techniques, which are being increasingly accepted in law enforcement practices across the U.S. He has served as an expert for the defense, prosecution, and plaintiffs in criminal and civil cases across the U.S. and Canada. He has given workshops and presentations to trial judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and police across the U.S. and Canada. He was a central member of the U.S. Department of Justice group that developed the first set of national guidelines for eyewitness evidence. He co-chaired the panel that wrote the Justice Department training manual for law enforcement on the collection and preservation of eyewitness identification evidence. Wells worked with the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General to develop improved procedures for lineups conducted by police in New Jersey and is working to help prosecutors and police make improvements other places across the country. In 2001, Wells was awarded the Distinguished Contributions to Psychology and Law Award from the American Psychology-Law Society.

5.25 General CLE credits and 1.25 Ethics CLE credits are approved (6.50 total). For more information regarding CLE credits in other states, contact UW CLE at 206-543-0059.

New Attorney Discount: If you were admitted to the Bar after December 31, 2000, you can take 30 percent off the standard registration fee, subject to space availability.

Refunds are available up to five business days prior to the program. In lieu of refund we encourage participants to send a substitute. Please notify UW CLE of any requests for refunds or substitutions. All cancellations are subject to a $30 handling charge.

To request accommodations for the disabled, please contact the office of the ADA coordinator at (206) 543-6450 (voice); (206) 543-6452 (TTY); (206) 685=7264 (fax); or dso@u.washington.edu (e-mail).