Rule 707 Eyewitness identification and memory; expert witness; admissibility of testimony.

Here's a plain English summary:

This rule lets a court hear from an expert about how eyewitness identification and memory work. This can happen in either a criminal case or a civil case. The expert might explain things like how stress, lighting, or the passage of time can affect what a witness remembers or how well someone can identify a person they saw only briefly.

The expert's testimony still has to meet the normal rules for evidence before a judge will allow it. This means the judge decides if the expert is qualified and if the testimony will actually help the jury understand the case. The rule does not automatically guarantee this kind of expert testimony will be allowed. It just makes clear that this type of evidence is a valid option for judges to consider under the standard rules that apply to all expert testimony.

This matters most in cases where an eyewitness identification is a key piece of evidence, like when someone claims they saw a person commit a crime. Research has shown that eyewitness memory is not always reliable, so this rule gives courts a way to bring in expert knowledge to help juries weigh that kind of evidence more carefully.