“I think this is the guy”—The complicated confidence of eyewitness memory

Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton have every reason to be enemies. In 1984, an intruder broke into Thompson’s apartment and raped her. She identified Cotton as the rapist in both a photo array and a live lineup. Although Cotton proclaimed his innocence, he was arrested, tried, and convicted. The prosecution’s case rested mainly on Thompson’s identification, and during the trial she testified that she was “absolutely sure”...
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