Conference on eyewitness misidentification hears personal story

Violent crime victim Jennifer Thompson-Cannino of North Carolina, whose story of eyewitness misidentification was the subject of the award-winning documentary After Innocence, will be the keynote speaker Saturday at an Osgoode Hall Law School professional development forum on eyewitness identification and testimony.


Thompson-Cannino’s speech, “I was Certain, but I was Wrong”, will be delivered Saturday, April 8, at 9am at the Osgoode Professional Development Downtown Toronto Conference Centre, 1 Dundas St. West, 26th Floor, Toronto.


A pre-conference screening of After Innocence, which won the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize, will be held  today from 7 to 8:35pm, also at the OPD Downtown Toronto Conference Centre. To reserve a seat, call ext. 59724 or e-mail opd@osgoode.yorku.ca.


The Saturday conference is the second in the Osgoode Professional Development Program series on strategies for avoiding wrongful convictions and acquittals. It will bring together judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers, law enforcement professionals and leading psychologists to discuss:



  • the latest scientific research on the reliability of eyewitnesses;
  • how identification practices need to be adapted to reflect the research;
  • best practices for administering accurate identifications;
  • how eyewitness testimony can best be elicited and challenged.

For more information about the one-day forum, click here to see the program brochure.