前程百利小编为大家带来托福阅读材料。在法庭上的证词会给被告带来不同的判决结果，但是证人都是可信的吗?大家可以从材料中寻找答案。文章的难词已经标示出来，希望大家可以学习到相关知识，并通过不断的阅读练习提高自己的托福阅读能力。
Over the past quarter-century more than 1400 people convicted(定罪，被认为有罪) of serious crimes have been proved innocent(无辜的，清白的) according to the University of Michigan Law School’s National Registry of Exonerations(免除责任). But why were these people wrongly convicted? In a great many cases one significant factor was faulty(有缺陷的) eyewitness identifications.
Eyewitness testimony(证言) can be extremely powerful. When a witness with no motive to lie swears under oath(宣誓) that he or she personally saw a defendant(被告) commit a crime it is hard not to believe the testimony. But in recent decades extensive scientific research — which we reviewed while co-chairing the National Research Council committee that wrote the recent report “Identifying the Culprit(罪犯): Assessing Eyewitness Identification” — have identified a number of factors that can lead an eyewitness to make a mistake. It is time our legal system started making use of this knowledge.
Some of these factors such as poor lighting(光线不好) or distractions(分心的事) may seem obvious. But others such as the effect of stress are less so. Still other factors — such as the psychological influence of a police officer’s body language as an eyewitness views a lineup(指认犯人的时候嫌疑犯排成一排) or how a witness’s recollection(记忆力) of a person in a lineup can merge(混合，融合) over time with memories of the original event — are so subtle(细微，微妙) that studies are only beginning to reveal their effects.
When judges and juries lack awareness of the factors that can affect the accuracy(准确性) of eyewitness testimony they can make mistakes.
In 1967 for example before most of this research the Supreme Court(最高法院) ruled in Manson v. Braithwaite that the reliability of an eyewitness’s identification and hence its admissibility(可采纳性) as evidence depends in part on the level of certainty that the witness expresses when identifying a defendant in court. This in the view of the court was simply common sense(常识).
But the court was wrong. Careful studies have demonstrated that regardless of(无论) the level of certainty an eyewitness expresses at the time of original identification (which itself may be affected by numerous factors) a witness’s confidence in the correctness of the identification steadily increases over time. This occurs for psychological and cognitive(认知的) reasons that have nothing to do with the accuracy of the identification such as reinforcement(强化，证实) of a witness’s beliefs by law enforcement(法律的执行) and accounts of events promulgated(宣传) by attorneys(律师，代理人) and news media.
If we want to avoid making the same tragic mistakes again and again all of us — police prosecutors(公诉人) judges jurors(陪审员) public officeholders(公务员) and the public — must act on this research. Here is how:
First lineups should be administered according to the same kind of “double-blind” standards used in scientific testing. For example the police officer administering the lineup should not be involved in the investigation. An eyewitness should be told that the lineup may or may not include a suspect and that the investigation will continue regardless of whether someone is identified. In addition lineups should be videotaped.
Second the level of confidence the eyewitness expresses at the time of the initial(最初的) identification should be documented(记录) and made available at trial(庭审中).
Third judges should be educated about the well-documented failings of lineups. This knowledge will put judges in a better position to evaluate whether eyewitness identification evidence should be included in a particular case.
Fourth through expert(专业的) testimony or judicial instructions jurors should be educated about the many factors that can affect eyewitness identification and that those need to be considered in evaluating the reliability of an eyewitness’s testimony.
With these reforms(改革) the number of mistaken eyewitness identifications would be greatly reduced and judges and jurors would be able to make more accurate assessments of eyewitness testimony. This would go a long way toward ensuring that our criminal justice system gets to the truth for the benefit of us all.
以上就是前程百利小编为大家带来的托福阅读材料，平时的阅读练习是托福考试阅读备考的重要一环。希望大家利用好每份材料，尽可能多地从中获取知识。预祝大家托福考试取得好成绩。
