Text 3Bernard Jackson is a free man today, but he has many bitter memories. Jackson spent

Text 3

Bernard Jackson is a free man today, but he has many bitter memories. Jackson spent five years in prison after a jury wrongly convicted him of raping two women. At Jackson' s trial, although two witnesses testified that Jackson was with them in another location at the times of thcrimes, he was convicted anyway. Why？ The jury believed the testimony of the two victims, who positively identified Jackson as the man who had attacked them. The court eventually freed Jackson after the police found the man who had really committed the crimes.

Many factors influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. For instance, witnesses some-times see photographs of several suspects before they try to identify the person they saw in a lineup of people. They can become confused by seeing many photographs of similar faces. The number of people in the lineup, and whether it is a live lineup or a photograph, may also affect a witness' s decision. People sometimes have difficulty identifying people of other races. The questions the po-lice ask witnesses also have an effect on them.

Many people believe that police officers are more reliable than ordinary people. Psychologists decided to test this idea, and they discovered that it is not true. Two psychologists showed a film of crimes to both police officers and civilians. The psychologists found no difference between the police and the civilians in correctly remembering the details of the crimes. .

Despite all the possibilities for inaccuracy, courts cannot exclude eyewitness testimony from a trial. American courts depend almost completely on eyewitness testimony to resolve court cases. Sometimes it is the only evidence to a crime, such as rape. Furthermore, eyewitness testimony is often correct. Although people do sometimes make mistakes, many times they really do identify in dividuals correctly.

American courts depend on the ability of the twelve jurors, and not the judges, to determine the accuracy of the witness' s testimony. It is their responsibility to decide if a certain witness could actually see, hear, and remember what occurred.

In a few cases the testimony of eyewitnesses has convicted innocent people. More important ly,it has rightly convicted a larger number of guilty people; consequently, it continues to be of great value in the American judicial system.

56. Benard Jackson was found guilty by the jury because_________ .

[A] the victims insisted that he was the attacker

[ B] the judge believed in the victims' identification

[ C] the police discovered evidence leading to his guilt

[D] the eyewinesses confirmed the victims' testimony