Acme of Testimony

1. Running Head: LAWS PERTAINING TO INTOXICATED WITNESSES Editorial Laws Pertaining to Intoxicated Witnesses: The Acme of Testimony Jacob R. Stotler

2. LAWS PERTAINING TO INTOXICATED WITNESSES 2 Laws Pertaining to Intoxicated Witnesses: The Acme of Testimony It is illegal to operate motor vehicles while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, knowingly because of the distortion and deficits affecting: psychomotor performance, executive abilities, reaction time, and decision making. According to the Oklahoma department of Medicine at .25 Blood alcohol content (BAC), about 2-4 alcoholic drinks, one suffers “diminished judgment and control”. (Dubowski, 2014) The law has yet to distinguish or recognize the psychological markers of deficit due to intoxication in witness accounts and testimonies, yet the factor of intoxication distorting testimony may be prevalent in innumerable cases. Witness testimonies heavily influence convictions in court and sometimes are the only form of evidence. (Walton,2007) There are estimations that eyewitness identification ) was a factor in over 70% of convictions overturned by DNA evidence. (Innocence Project, 2018) The idea that intoxicated witnesses are, or will be a problem within the justice system is inevitable. Intoxicated witnesses now are an undignified fact of our current system. We have no way to prove, and we rarely, if ever, reflect the mental clarity and sobriety of key witnesses, jurors, juries, and judges in our judicial system. There is no law warding people away from testifying of a circumstance in which they were inebriated (to any degree or severity). Are we assuming everyone sober? Are we allowing people that legally could not drive, testify and “drive” our court system? Consider this: a woman accuses a man of assaulting her, (she in fact has been assaulted) though during the time of the assault, she was intoxicated on cocaine and alcohol (both traceable in her blood/urine at the time). In the case not only does she deny or enshroud that she was

3. LAWS PERTAINING TO INTOXICATED WITNESSES 3 intoxicated, but because she was, she also hides other potential evidence such as who she was with preceding the crime. She enshrouds these facts from the courts to veer from the reality that she was with her boyfriend and his friends (successful cocaine dealers) at her house. Including this, she assumes she would be seen as an unreliable witness. The justice system therefore does not concentrate on her competency or sobriety and continues to prosecute the accused perpetrator on account of “reliable witness testimony”. She remembers the assailant being of a different race with presence of facial hair. A man is convicted because of her “inaccurate” / false testimony. The wrong man. Now say that she was heavily intoxicated on these substances during the crime: should she be entrusted with the entire justice system, to accuse a man by cross race identification of the crime of raping her? Is this nationally or divinely legitimate when in fact she was inebriated to the point that she remembers only select “pictorials” of that night / incident? Even in such a harsh case (perhaps based on real events) it seems inaccurate and misleading to justify electing this madam to play as a key witness in the case. She had been heavily intoxicated both on alcohol and illegal drugs, and perhaps continues to be throughout the trial. She in turn is unreliable. At this point in our justice system, there is no procedure or standard to record, acknowledge, or recognize the amount of illegal substances, or alcohol in the circulatory system of those who are playing key roles in judgment. The reality in this case is that the woman was too intoxicated to remember, and at the time of reporting the crime, she was too intoxicated to identify the perpetrator besides the two distinctive attributes of his skin color, and presence facial hair. She is desperate to bring justice to someone; she feels the shame of having been in the inebriated condition in which she was. The

4. LAWS PERTAINING TO INTOXICATED WITNESSES 4 reality is, anyone under the influence of mind altering substances, illicit drugs, and/or alcohol cannot be completely dependent upon by the courts or government to bring a clear, vivid, and honest perspective to the courts. If this wasn’t true, we would let the intoxicated drive their automobiles regardless of their degree of intoxication. While witnesses should not always be denied or avoided in investigations because of their use and abuse of substances and alcohol, but the results of drug and alcohol analysis should be admissible evidence coupling the testimony, alibis, allegations, and declarations of all of those involved. One person may be supremely confident that they are aware of the perpetrator, their testimony may also be the only form of evidence, but they also could have been experiencing the effects of alcohol myopia (the effect of alcohol that makes people “shortsighted”), and alcohol induced amnesia (being blacked out or unconscious due alcohol poisoning). (Sevincer, Oettingen, 2014) Is this witness and testimony divinely superior? Is this evidence worth the trust of the county, state and federal court systems? No, although right now we are substantially unaware of these underlying facts about the movements within our justice system. The courts face numerous factors of misidentification, yet engaging in, or applying a process to properly exclude some eye witnesses, select eye witness testimonies, jurors, declarants, judges and others due to the involvement of drugs and/or alcohol would narrow this struggle of reliability. We do not currently know these moral conditions of our justice system, yet we should in the future know the degree of competence that our justice system is balanced upon.

5. LAWS PERTAINING TO INTOXICATED WITNESSES 5 References Dubowski, K. (2006) Stages of Acute alocholic influence / intoxication: Dubowski Chart .Oklahoma City, OK: The University of Oklahoma Department of Medicine. Retrieved April 8, 2018 from http://www.drugdetection.net/PDF%20documents/wski%20- %20stages%20of%20alcohol%20effects.pdf . Innocence Project. (2018). Eyewitness Misidentification. Online article. Retrieved April 8, 2018 from https://www.innocenceproject.org/causes/eyewitness-misidentification/ . Sevincer, T., Oettingen, G. (2014). Alcohol Myopia and goal commitment. Frontiers in Psychology. Published by Mini Review Article. Retrieved April 8, 2018 from http://www.psych.nyu.edu/oettingen/Sevincer,%20T.,%20&%20Oettingen,%20G.%20(2014).%2 0Frontiers.pdf. Doi: 10.3389.fpsyg.2014.00169 . Walton, D. (2007). Witness Testimony Evidence: Argumentation and the Law. Cambridge Univesrity Press. Online journal. Retrieved April 8, 2018 from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uwy/reader.action?docID=321477&query= .

6. LAWS PERTAINING TO INTOXICATED WITNESSES 6 Editorial Rubric Editorial Rubric Criteria Ratings Pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeGrammar and spelling 5.0 pts Full Marks 0.0 pts No Marks 5.0 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeClarity of writing 5.0 pts Full Marks 0.0 pts No Marks 5.0 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeEditorial (critical thinking, applying what you've learned to the topic, raises issues that make people think) 40.0 pts Full Marks 0.0 pts No Marks 40.0 pts