About Us

EyeID.org is a collaborative effort of the Eyewitness Identification Reform Litigation Network, originally created by The Innocence Project, the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and now a national network of defense lawyers in the field of eyewitness identification. The project seeks to elevate the level of representation of individuals in criminal cases, promote the integration of empirically sound scientific research into eyewitness identification litigation, and advance reform efforts in the legal field of eyewitness identification.

As the DNA exonerations have confirmed, eyewitness error is the most common contributing factor in wrongful convictions in the United States. Eyewitness testimony, however, remains one of the most compelling types of evidence among jurors -- in the words of Justice Brennan, there is "nothing more convincing [to a jury] than a live human being who takes the stand, points a finger at the defendant, and says 'That's the one!'" Watkins v. Souders, 449 U.S. 341, 352 (1982) (Brennan, J. dissenting). New litigation strategies are critical to counteracting this overreliance by jurors on eyewitness testimony, which often proves to be mistaken. This website seeks to provide some of the tools necessary to a well-crafted defense challenge to this uniquely problematic type of evidence.

These resources are available, free of charge, only to members of the defense community. Click here to join.

Once registered, you will have immediate access to a large collection of materials designed to assist at trial.

To contact us with questions, feedback, or to suggest new content, please email us at info@eyeid.org