New research has revealed ways to ensure greater liberty for citizens. Revealing flaws in current investigations, this research shows that many individuals, including numerous veterans, have been wrongfully imprisoned based on faulty evidence. With recommendations for the future, there is hope that justice and liberty will be increased.

The National Academy of Sciences released a groundbreaking report Thursday that provides strong scientific confirmation and explanation of what we’ve long known about the reliability of eyewitness identifications: They’re not nearly as reliable as we’d like to think. In fact, eyewitness misidentifications have contributed to 72% of the 318 wrongful convictions that were later overturned by DNA evidence.

Researchers looked at more than 30 years of basic and applied scientific research on memory and identification. They found that “the malleable nature of human visual perception, memory and confidence; the imperfect ability to recognize individuals; and policies governing law enforcement procedures can result in mistaken identifications with significant consequences.”

These findings are no surprise to Kirk Bloodsworth, Dennis Maher and Brandon Moon, who collectively spent 44 years in prison for crimes they didn’t commit before being proven innocent by DNA.

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