Call to strengthen eyewitness ID rules

The Criminal Cases Review Commission says stronger rules around eyewitness identification evidence are needed to prevent miscarriages of justice.

The commission says nearly one-fifth of review applications it has received in the past five years related to eyewitness identification, describing the issue as “a well-recognised cause of miscarriages of justice”.

It has called for three major changes:

• strengthening the legal requirements for formal eyewitness identification procedures, including introducing double-blind identification procedures, confidence statements and video recording of the identification process;
• expanding the definition of visual identification evidence so additional safeguards apply more consistently; and
• clarifying when formal identification procedures may be dispensed with by closing the list of “good reasons” in the Evidence Act.

“They are intended to bring New Zealand’s legislation into line with current international best practice and improve the reliability of eyewitness identification evidence used in criminal proceedings,” chief commissioner Denis Clifford said.

The full report is available here.