Articles Contained in SIRS Enduring Issues 2006. Originally Published: Police Lineups' Flaws Spur New Approach, Feb. 12, 2005; pp. n.p..
"For 18 years, the photographs that lined Steve Avery's prison cells linked him to the outside world. They helped him see his children grow up. They made him feel as if he hadn't completely missed those birthdays and Thanksgivings. But the dozens of yellowed snapshots--now stored in a cardboard box in his blue trailer--also are bitter reminders of the moments and memories stolen from him while he served time for a rape he didn't commit. Although 16 witnesses placed him elsewhere July 29, 1985, when Penny Beerntsen was brutally attacked on a Wisconsin beach, she identified Avery in a lineup and swore it was him during the trial. But almost two decades later, DNA evidence proved she was wrong." (CHICAGO TRIBUNE) This article examines the flaws with traditional police lineups and reviews different approaches to "lineups that some say could sharply reduce the number of false identifications," including the "'sequential' lineup, where suspects are brought in one at a time so witnesses can examine each individually."