About Us

EyeID.org is a collaborative effort that arose out of the Eyewitness Identification Reform Litigation Network, a joint effort of 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. The project seeks to elevate the level of representation of individuals in cases involving eyewitness identification and advance reform efforts in the fields of eyewitness identification law and science.

EyeID.org aims to provide a comprehensive resource for defense attorneys to assist in the litigation of ID cases, providing a frequently updated repository of trial pleadings, expert transcripts and affidavits, research articles, documentation on police procedures, legislative reform materials, training materials, and other resources compiled to support either litigation or legislative reform efforts in the area of eyewitness identification. This resource is sponsored by the Eyewitness Identification Reform Litigation Network, a national network of defense lawyers and experts in the field of eyewitness identification committed to this effort.

As the DNA exonerations have revealed, eyewitness error is the leading cause of 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!'"* As such, 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, to all members of the defense community (and only the defense community). Once registered, you will have immediate access to a large collection of materials designed to assist at trial. This site is still in the early stages of development, so keep an eye out for improvements and a substantial amount of new content over the coming weeks and months.

To contact the EyeID Reform Network with questions, feedback, or to submit your own content for the site, please email us at info@eyeid.org

* Watkins v. Souders, 449 U.S. 341, 352 (1982) (Brennan, J. dissenting).