Step 1

Eyewitness testimony refers to testifying or narrating an incident which was witnessed by a bystander. In other words, an individual narrates the events that they observed when a crime took place. For instance, Mr. Y saw a man get out of his neighbor's house with a knife in his hand. Mr. Y walked into his neighbor's house to check on his neighbor, he saw his neighbor lying in a pool of blood, he called 911 and soon the police arrived at the crime scene as well. A couple of days later a few men were arrested who seemed like they could be responsible for the murder that took place. Mr. Y was asked to be produced in court to be an eyewitness testimony and to identify the murderer as he saw him leave his neighbor's house with a knife. About 3 men were produced to Mr. Y to recognize the perpetrator. This is known as eyewitness testimony.

Step 2

Eyewitnesses are a great help to identify offenders in crime scenes which would have otherwise gone unnoticed. However, there are both pros and cons to eyewitness testimony.

Pros:

Eyewitness testimony helps bring the exact events of crime scene observed in front of lawyers and jury so that the perpetrator can be punished. An eyewitness narrates the events of the crime scene as they took place as they were the only witnesses to the crime. It gives the lawyers and jury a better understanding of what really happened as the offender would obviously deny committing a crime.
An eyewitness testimony helps the jury arrive at a decision. The events narrated by the eyewitness are considered to be credible and play an important role in deciding the punishment of the perpetrator or the offender.
An eyewitness vividly or clearly remembers the episode that they witnessed as it was equally a shock to them. The event is fairly new and clear in the eyewitness’s memory; this is considered to be a reliable source while taking a decision on the level of punishment of the offender.

Cons:

As time passes by, the event in the eyewitness’s memory begins to fade. It is still vivid, but the minute details can be missed out on. For instance, when the offender's lawyer questions the eyewitness about what they saw, the interjecting questions confuse the eyewitness and they blurt out the wrong information. For instance, the offender's lawyer asks the eyewitness if the knife was covered in blood or not, it was probably not covered in blood when the eyewitness saw the perpetrator but instead says that it was covered in blood. Such minute details can be vague and can cause the eye witness to give out the wrong information.
An eyewitness can be afraid for their own lives as they do not want to be harmed by the offender and due to pressure and fear the eye witness can manipulate the truth and make up stuff that did not even happen or lie about what happened.
The wrong person may be charged as guilty because of an eyewitness. The offender may roam free without any punishment and could continue committing crimes if not convicted, but due to misinformation, a wrong person can be charged.

eyewitness testimony in courts THE PROS AND CONS

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