Misidentification is one, if not the most important, factor in false detention. Across the country there are hundreds, no, thousands of people who are incarcerated because of witness identification. Eyewitness identification plays an important role in shaping an investigation. Although witnesses are useful in identifying the perpetrator of the crime, this does not mean that they always identify the right person. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Once a Witness Is Identified There are hundreds of cases where death row inmates were found to be innocent even though they had served most of their life in prison. The way the Police handle this type of case because it influences the victim to make a choice at that moment. In some cases they died in prison and their innocence was established after their death. Eyewitness misidentification is one of the biggest and sometimes deadly forms of identification because it leads the police or investigators to take the witness's word for it and put the suspect in prison for much of his life and sometimes until death, as affirmed by the Innocence Project. , many people who were recently silenced were incarcerated primarily because of misidentification. Eyewitness identification is the largest contributing factor to wrongful convictions proven by DNA testing, causing 70% of convictions overturned through DNA testing nationwide. Over 230 people, who served an average of 12 years in prison, have been exonerated through DNA testing in the United States, and 75% of those wrongful convictions were linked to misidentification. An example of this is the case of Andre Hackett. Before being imprisoned, he was recently involved in a shooting and was seriously injured as a result. The main witness described the murder as using a crutch while beating the victim to death. Andrew Hackett had a solid record and was physically incapable of being the perpetrator of the murder, but due to the witness identifying him in the police lineup and having horrible lawyers to support him in the courtroom, he was found guilty and served 25 years in prison. .A growing body of evidence highlights serious problems with eyewitness identification procedures. In fact, faulty eyewitness testimony is the leading cause of wrongful convictions. According to the Justice Brandeis Innocence Project at Brandeis University, erroneous eyewitnesses played a role in 75 percent of the 273 DNA exonerations nationwide. And in 36% of cases, more than one eyewitness made the same mistake. One of the most notorious cases of misidentification occurred in North Carolina. Someone broke into the apartment owned by college student Jennifer Thompson and raped her. She stated that, after carefully studying the appearance of her attacker, it was Ronald Cotton who raped her. After spending 10 years in prison, he was proven innocent after a DNA test. In the heat of the moment many small details of the appearance of the murder go unnoticed, so the witness focuses only on the big details. The witness in Andre's case noted that the killer was a large man and was using a crutch while beating the victim. Witnesses substantially changed their description of the perpetrator (including key information such as height, weight, and presence of facial hair) after learning more about a particular suspect. A well-known example of this is the Troy Davis case. A police officer was killed in a restaurant parking lot. Troy Davis was.