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Eyewitness ID reform remains unfinished business for police, Legislature

While Texas passed a laudable innocence compensation statute last session, most other innocence-related legislation (with the notable exception of state Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa's bill requiring corroboration for jailhouse informant testimony) died in the House as a result of the end-of-session meltdown over voter ID. Perhaps the biggest loss for the innocence movement in that debacle was the failure of legislation to require police departments to have policies on eyewitness ID that conform to evidence-based best practices.This TV news report from KHOU Houston reminds us that most police agencies still haven't switched from traditional, flawed lineup methods or even created policies to govern lineups. Police departments could do this on their own, and a few have done so, but I'm not holding my breath for the rest to follow suit of their own accord...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on April 17, 2010 (boomark / email).