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ADDENDUM TO THE REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
ILLINOIS: THE ILLINOIS PILOT PROGRAM
ON SEQUENTIAL DOUBLE-BLIND IDENTIFICATION PROCEDURES
I. Introduction
On March 17, 2006, the results of a ground-breaking field study of data collected from
hundreds of photo and live eyewitness identifications from three Illinois jurisdictions were
published in a Report to the Legislature Of the State of Illinois: The Illinois Pilot Program on
Sequential Double-blind Identification Procedures (“Report”). It was the first major field study
of eyewitness identification procedures, providing data beyond the sequential, double-blind
procedures. A month later, on April 20-21, Loyola University of Chicago School of Law
sponsored a conference, New Policies, New Practices: Fresh Perspectives on Eyewitness
Identification (“Conference”), that brought together researchers, judges, lawyers, police and
policy-makers, for a thought-provoking discussion of the Report and its implications for the
future of eyewitness identification. Many who attended the Conference expressed hope that the
Report and the Conference represented a turning point for eyewitness identification,
reinvigorating the potential for comprehensive field studies urged by the Department of Justice
in 1999. The Conference attendees also expressed the shared goal of achieving accurate and
reliable eyewitness identifications in our criminal justice system.
Faced with this first field study, many have embraced with enthusiasm an examination of
real-life data. Yet, there also has arisen a resistance to the study by some proponents of the
sequential, double-blind procedures. Due to the confusion caused by this resistance, conference
attendees urged that this Addendum be posted to address the issues being raised. Hopefully, this
Addendum will allow us to focus on the Illinois study in a constructive manner to guide further