Eye Witness Memory in the Criminal Justice System

Memory – Eye Witness Testimony

In this course, Dr Adam Charles Harvey (University of the West of England) explores factors which impact the accuracy of eye witness testimony. In the first lecture, we think about the factors which impact eye witness memory in the criminal justice system. In the second lecture, we think about the impact of leading questions on the reliability and accuracy of eye witness testimony. In the third lecture, we think about the effects of post event discussion on eye witness memory. Next, we think about the reconstructive nature of memory, with a focus on Bartlett’s work and responses to it. In the fifth lecture, we think about context dependant memory. In the sixth and final lecture, we think about the impacts of anxiety and stress on memory performance.

Eye Witness Memory in the Criminal Justice System

In this lecture, we think about factors impacting eye witness memory in the courtroom, focusing in particular on: (i) the three learning objectives for this course; (ii) the tendency for solicitors to use inconsistencies in eye witness statements to propose that they are an unreliable source; (iii) the four key types of eye witness statement inconsistency; (iv) some forms in which an eye witness testimony can come; (v) the assumption of legal systems typically being that variables impacting eye witness memory are commonly understood; (vi) the potentially unorthodox comparison between Freud’s reproductive theory of memory and Bartlett’s reconstructive theory of memory; (vii) Magnussen and colleagues’ findings that judges were not greatly more knowledgeable than lay people on the issues surrounding eye witness memory; (viii) a review and comparison of the store house memory metaphor and the correspondence memory metaphor; (ix) Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve; (x) examples of system and estimator variables; (xi) some key pieces of research which have highlighted the unreliable nature of eye witness identifications.