Chapter 169
2010 -- S 2315 SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 06/25/10
A N A C T
RELATING TO
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE -- IDENTIFICATION AND APPREHENSION OF CRIMINALS
Introduced By: Senators Metts, and C Levesque
Date Introduced: February 11, 2010
It is enacted by the General
Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Chapter 12-1 of the General Laws entitled
"Identification and Apprehension
of Criminals" is
hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:
12-1-16.
Improvement of lineup procedures task force. -- (a)
In order to: (1) Prevent
the injustice of a wrongful conviction caused by mistaken
eyewitness identification; (2) Improve
lineup procedures during criminal investigations; and (3)
Further improve the already high quality
of criminal justice in our state, the general assembly
creates a taskforce to identify and
recommend policies and procedures to improve the accuracy of
eyewitness identifications.
(b) The task force
shall be comprised of the following or their designees:
(1) Attorney general;
(2) Public defender;
(3) Superintendent of
the
(4) President of the
(5) Head of the
municipal police training academy;
(6) President of the
(7) President of the
(8) A representative
from a
sciences as demonstrated by teaching, publication and other scholarly
applications; and
(9) Executive
director of the
(c) The task force,
in consultation with eyewitness identification practitioners and
experts, shall develop guidelines for policies, procedures and
training with respect to the
collection and handling of eyewitness evidence in criminal
investigations by law enforcement
agencies in
with information regarding policies and procedures proven
to increase the accuracy of the crime
investigation process, thus also reducing the possibility of
wrongful convictions.
(d) Guidelines for
policies, procedures and training that may be considered and
recommended by the task force include, but are not limited to:
(1) Use of blind
administration of lineups;
(2) Specific
instructions to be given to the eyewitness before and during the lineup to
increase the accuracy of any identification, including that
the purpose of the identification
procedure is to exculpate the innocent as well as to identify
the actual perpetrator;
(3) Number and
selection of fillers to be in lineups;
(4) Use of sequential
lineups versus nonsequential lineups;
(5) Inclusion of only
one suspect in any lineup;
(6) Value of
refraining from providing any confirmatory information to the eyewitness;
(7) Standards and
protocols to be used in the administration and conduct of an
identification procedure;
(8) Training, if any,
should be made available to law enforcement personnel in the use of
these procedures; and
(9) Taking a
confidence statement from the person viewing the lineup.
(e) The task force
shall submit a report on the guidelines developed and
recommendations concerning their use. Minority reports may also be
issued. These reports shall
be presented to the governor, the chief justice of the
the house of representatives, the president of the
senate, and the chairpersons of the judiciary
committees of both the house of representatives and the senate
no later than January 1, 2011. The
task force shall terminate on the date that it submits its
report.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC00329/SUB A
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