Evidence - Video and Personal

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Personal evidence is what we all perceive as witness evidence while video evidence is what ever filmed/recorded evidence presented. This regards viewing both video and/or witness because it falls under the principle of, “What is focal is PRESUMED causal.” In short, what is perceived by the witness or whomever views video effects what is perceived.

This doesn’t even take into consideration things like angles, sound, certain effects dependent on direction, angles and other such filming and perceptive principles. For instance, one professional tells people that when viewing a piece of video evidence to first watch it several times with no sound. Then he tells them they must find out if editing of any kind occurred. A bit like chain of evidence processes to keep the integrity of what is presented or given as close to reality as possible. We shall see that this reality is not always as accurate or real dependent on focal-to-causal effects and influences.

For instance, what the witness sees such as facial views, i.e., they see the face of one participant while they cannot see the face of the other such as if they were standing behind one subject and viewing the second subject over the shoulder of the first. This also changes as to perspective and perceptions when you view two subjects from the side, i.e., when you can perceive identical information of both subjects.

Now, add this same process of perspective to perception and interpretations when filming from behind one subject with the other in direct line but facing the camera or when the camera films the two facing one another from the side. Dependent on that perspective you will hear and feel, etc., different tones and content, etc., due to that direction and how it effects your perceptions to information - it changes your perceptions while actually remaining the same as to reality. For instance, if you are viewing over one’s shoulder the fact you can see the one subjects facts you will naturally and instinctively judge that information as MORE CAUSAL. 

“The tendency of humans to presume that what is focal is causal holds say too deeply, to automatically, and over to many types of human JUDGEMENT.” - Robert Cialdini, Pre-Suasion

If you, like many cell phone witnesses, were to record that situation with the two subjects from different camera angles, you would ensure that everything about that situation itself would be identical every time it is showed - FROM THAT ANGLE. This is why disparity always rises up when more than one video is submitted as possible evidence because it comes from different people who shot the video from different angles at different times with different time spans that add, subtract and change perceptions and perspectives as well as resulting judgements of those who view it. All this effects the person who is a witness. 

Yes, one person standing at this angle didn’t see a gun and yet another person who stood at a totally different angle did see a gun. Both are correct and accurate but angles and perceptions along with how they are affected by the personal biased beliefs of the videographer and witness effect that informations outcome. 

When you add in such human distinctions and perceptions along with beliefs and agenda’s, when you add in sounds and editing that often occur to meet the beliefs and perceptions of the person publishing whether as evidence or just social media attention gratification purposes, it means that it is not exactly foolproof. 

As Dr. Cialdini, and his studies along with research indicated, states, “Certain kinds of videotaped interactions are used frequently to help determine the guilt or innocence of suspects in major crimes” that this set of principles and effects become critically important. So many misunderstandings come from the emotionally driven reactions of perceived supposed reality that it drives how we act and in criminal situations lead to convictions, both socially in criminal systems, that can be found unjust. 

This is why the education and understanding of society is critical so we rein in our emotional reactive processes and stop to consider that video’s are not set in stone recordings of reality, they are just one perceptive view of a possible reality. It is best to collect a “preponderance of evidence” before judging!

Let me end this brief and terse article with one more example, i.e., interrogations - interrogations of suspects leading to false confessions that has come to light led to, “All interrogations involving major crimes to be videotaped.” Here is the conundrum, because we still assume a film/video is reality and truth, in practice, the point of view of the video camera is almost always behind the interrogator and onto the fact of the suspect. When the camera angle is arranged to record the fact of one discussant over the shoulder of another biases that critical judgement is toward the more visually salient of the two. 

“Such an camera angle being aimed at a suspect, lets not forget that the label suspect also influences the viewers to presupposed guilt, gives greater responsibility for a confession ( and greater guilt) to said suspect. This influence and presupposition comes regardless of whether the observers are men or women, college students or jury-eligible adults in their forties or fifties, exposed to the video recording once or twice, intellectually deep or shallow, and with previous information provided about the potential bias of video evidence due to the impact of camera angles, etc., this pattern the same regardless of being ordinary folks in the jury pool, to the legal professionals, or to the judges trying such cases.”

As you can see, just because a witness says so, regardless of their credentials and just because it is on film does not negate the possibility of false witness and confessions. But a bird in hand is far faster, better and easier to gain a confession then the extra effort and work to continue an investigation to find the real culprit especially as more time passing makes that more and more difficult. The pressures of management to get it finishes along with pressures to close and convict for a variety of reasons beyond mere guilt or innocence makes this even worse. 

It warrants all of us to take a breath, rein in our emotionally monkey brains and take a moment to allow all evidence to be gathered, analyzed and collated into real evidence before we judge anyone or anything. What if one day, out of the blue, you find yourself on the receiving end of such events and situations, wouldn’t you want a chance?

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“In order for any life to matter, we all have to matter.” - Marcus Luttrell, Navy Seal (ret)