Neil v. Biggers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Neil v. Biggers - Essay Example This ruling based on the show up identification brought about the precedence of making a ruling. The other precedence brought about by this case was due to the fact that the writ for habeas corpus in such a case cannot be cannot be accepted by a federal court. This is because of the affirmance according to the U.S.C 2244 (c). This therefore means that even if the case is appealed, the judgment of made by the lower courts still stands and no further action can be taken (Ingram 2011). This was the case when Biggers appealed the ruling of the case in the Supreme Court. Even though the Neil v. Biggers was ruled in favor of the show up identification process even though it was done over seven months after the assault had taken place, conflict of ideas were raised. This has led to development of more criteria which should be considered before judging an individual based on merely identification by an eyewitness. These criteria are proved by a psychologist employed to do so by the court. They look at several things like the time that has elapsed between the time the assault takes place and the identification process. This is meant to ensure that the memory of the plaintiff is still fresh and hence no wrong identification. Another guideline involves the accuracy of the description made earlier. This is done to ensure that there is no discrepancy whatsoever that may lead to the wrong person being incriminated and the assailant to walk free. All this is done before any ruling on the case is done and it ensures that the witness is really sure of what they are reporting before the court or in front of a jury. The other guideline criteria are on opportunity to view the assailant. This will include the physical features of the assailant like height, weight, skin complexion among other physical traits that will make it easy to identify the individual whether in a line up or