Question

Under the Neil v. Biggers test for witness identification, what are the constitutional requirements that must be met in order to allow the admissibility of evidence of a victim’s or witness’s pretrial identification of the defendant from photographs or a lineup?

Answer 1

It has been found from the Neil v. Biggers that there are certain requirements which must be kept into account while allowing the identification of some victim or defendant with the help of certain photos or line ups. It has been said that the witness must be pretty certain about his statements and he must have a good vision capability. It is also required that the witness is taking the things seriously and giving it the required attention and concentration. It must be also be taken into account that whatever the witness describes or claim must be quite similar to the suspect and the realistic assumptions already established.

It has also been found that in cases of photos or line ups there is a tendency of wrong identification and thus, some studies have recommended certain strategies. According to these strategies, the witness must be informed that there are high chances that the photos have nothing in relation to the suspect. Another strategy is to ensure that the witnesses must rate and report how much confident they are about their claims about identification.