Evidence Integrity

Modules

Integrity Standard in force

Uncorroborated stranger identification cannot confirm. Hearsay is not a usable cluster. Court admission is not an integrity pass.

• first-hand vs hearsay
• opportunity (light, distance, duration)
• retention delay / feedback
• stress / weapon focus / disguise
• cross-race or known bias
• lineup procedure
• independent corroboration

Independent replication and method/uncertainty transparency for measured quantities. Gates applied on findings when flags are explicitly false.

• single cluster cannot confirm
• independent replication (two clusters)
• method disclosure required when method_disclosed=false
• uncertainty_stated=false gated
• raw series or primary table cited (planned)

External SOTA

Official primary pages. Not wiki recaps as authority.

• National Research Council (2014). Identifying the Culprit: Assessing Eyewitness Identification — National Academies Press catalog.
• Wells, G. L., et al. (2020). Policy and Procedure Recommendations for the Collection and Preservation of Eyewitness Identification Evidence — Law and Human Behavior (APA PDF).
• Loftus, E. F. (2005). Planting misinformation in the human mind: A 30-year investigation of the malleability of memory — Learning & Memory (DOI).
• NIJ (1999). Eyewitness Evidence: A Guide for Law Enforcement — official NIJ library page.

Where we dissent

Many courtrooms still treat a confident stranger identification as strong evidence. The research above documents high error under the checklist conditions. Truthbum therefore caps uncorroborated stranger identification: it cannot take a question to confirmed.

Open problem

What finding would raise that ceiling: a replicated, pre-registered result that uncorroborated stranger ID under the listed conditions is accurate enough to confirm a world-question without a second independent cluster.

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