Confident witnesses are deemed more credible than unconfident ones, and accurate witnesses are deemed more credible than inaccurate ones. But are those effects independent? Two experiments show that errors in testimony damage the overall credibility of witnesses who were confident about the erroneous testimony more than that of witnesses who were not confident about it. Furthermore, after makin...

Eyewitness error is one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions. In fact, the American Psychological Association estimates that one in three eyewitnesses make an erroneous identification. In this review, we look briefly at some of the causes of eyewitness error. We examine what jurors, judges, attorneys, law officers, and experts from various countries know about eyewitness testimony and ...

In honor of Isaac Ray's 200th birthday, the author examines his early career for an example of critical thinking about expert testimony. Ray, a scientist from the outset, expressed interest in phrenology, a contemporary science of the mind. This paper explores a criminal case from Maine in which phrenological testimony was proffered and which Ray critiqued. The author then examines Ray's standa...