Illinois Eyewitness Identification Litigation
Washington, DC (March 3, 2010) – The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) has been fighting in the Illinois courts since Feb. 2007 to secure access to data and other materials related to the Chicago Police Department’s controversial, taxpayer-funded report on lineups and eyewitness procedures. The report sets forth highly controversial, and widely criticized conclusions that current eyewitness procedures—those that use traditional line ups where all suspects stand in a room together—are more effective than new procedures used in other American cities to reduce errors that can lead to wrongful convictions. Although academic research has consistently found that sequential, double-blind identification procedures substantially reduce false identifications, the report claimed that in “real life” lineups, the traditional method was more reliable. The Chicago, Evanston and Joliet police departments participated in the study with the Illinois State Police ....more
Click here to view NACDL's FOIA Requests*
To view the June 30, 2008, Circuit Court Decision No. 07 CH 3622, click here.
To view the July 31, 2008, Circuit Court Decision No. 07 MR 530, click here.
To view NACDL's Opening Appellate Brief, click here.
To view NACDL's Appellate Reply Brief, click here.
To view the Brief of Amici Curiae submitted to the Appellate Court, dated February 3, 2009, click here.
To view the February 25, 2010, Appellate Court Reversal click here.
Click here to read Nancy K. Steblay's article "What We Know Now: The Evanston Illinois Field Lineups." Description: The article examines the methodology behind the Illinois Pilot Program.
*Evanston is the only municipality to agree to turn over their data.
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