http://www.komonews.com/news/national/26830644.html
This article “Race sometimes a problem in eyewitness IDs” by the Associated Press (which I found on komonews.com), is extremely intense. The basic summary is that a woman had been raped,and identified a suspect in a line up. But it turned out the woman, Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, had fingered the wrong suspect. The man who had been convicted was Ronald Cotton, and had been sentenced to life in prison. Jennifer is white. Ronald is black. Ten years later, DNA evidence finally proved his innocence. But that’s not where the story ends. Studies have shown that similar situations have happened. People have pointed out the wrong suspect, just because they are of a different race, and they have a harder time distinguishing identities of people that are not their race. It’s like that saying that certainly sounds prejudiced and even racist about “they all look alike” — but in fact there may be some truth to that for some people. To address this, Thompson-Cannino and Cotton are writing a book. Together.
I think this is a great idea, as it will help people learn of the damage that can be done by such mistakes. According to Barry Scheck, co-founder of The Innocence Project, “The majority race is not as good at identifying minorities as it is its own race. This is hard-wired in some way that we don’t completely understand. But the phenomenon should be presented to the jury” (AP). People’s prejudices and preconceived notions can be very dangerous in certain situations. Innocent people can be sent to jail. Suspects of much more serious crimes, like murder, can be sentenced to death, all based on false identification.
Awareness needs to be made of these prejudices, and this apparent lack of the ability to “discriminate” in a different sense of the word — to be able to clearly identify someone of a different race and move beyond the “they all look the same” perspective. I know that in my own life, at least in the beginning, I was fed prejudices by the media, by my parents, by my peers that could have influenced how I look at people of other races. This is just not right. Had I been assaulted, would I finger the correct person? Would I remember exactly who it was that attacked me, if I saw them in a line up? Would my remembering be hampered in any way if they are a different race? It is compelling to think about.
(Word Count Four Hundred Eleven)
