Gary Wells, professor of psychology and distinguished professor of liberal arts and sciences at Iowa State University, will give a talk titled "Eyewitness Identification and Wrongful Convictions," on Tuesday, November 9, 2004, at 6:10 p.m. in Room 127. The talk is sponsored by the Innocence Commission Project and is free and open to the public.
Gary Wells is an internationally recognized scholar in scientific psychology. His work has focused on the reliability of eyewitness identification. Psychological science has developed a strong understanding of problems with eyewitness identification evidence, and psychological researchers began to warn the legal system of these problems almost two decades before the DNA exoneration cases began to surface. In his talk, Wells will describe some faulty assumptions of the legal system regarding how memory works, discuss the results of eyewitness experiments that reveal general patterns of error, and summarize recommendations that can be incorporated into the collection and use of eyewitness identification evidence.
Wells has consulted with attorneys in criminal cases involving eyewitness memory, investigation procedures and evidence evaluation. He also lectures on these topics nationwide. Wells has authored and co-authored over 115 articles since 1976, many of which discuss eyewitness identification and testimony. He has chaired the Committee on Scientific Evidence Concerning Eyewitness Identification for the American Psychology-Law Society (1996-1998) and received the society's recognition for "Distinguished Contributions to Psychology and Law" (2000). He has been recognized for his "Outstanding Service and Dedication to Improving the Use of Eyewitness Evidence" by the U.S. Department of Justice (1999) and has co-chaired the U.S. DOJ Eyewitness Evidence Training Panel (1999-2000).