Ch. 15: Children as Eyewitnesses

Deliberate vs. Non-Deliberate Memory
- Deliberate Memory:
- Strategies involve intentional recall or practice.
- Historically, most research focused here, but it is less applicable in forensics.
- Non-Deliberate Memory:
- Memory for events is typically unintentional and automatic, which is particularly relevant in legal contexts.

Three Notable Cases:
- 3-Year-Old Girl: Found in a parking lot.
- 8-Year-Old Boy: Witnessed a murder.
- 5-Year-Old Boy: Alleged sexual abuse by a school employee.

Historical Context in Law:
- Judicial practice prior to contemporary memory research.
- Salem Witch Trials: Established longstanding biases about children's testimony.
- Changes in the Canadian Criminal Code & Evidence Act:
- Modified in 1989 and 1993, allowing child testimony without adult corroboration.
- Judges unable to caution jurors about children’s supposed unreliability.

Understanding the Memory System:
- The flow of information during memory encoding and retrieval.
- Role of contextual variables that affect memory.

Not Everything Gets Into Memory:
- Importance of prior knowledge (e.g., anatomy, sex, media influence).
- Stimuli interest value impacts memory (e.g., salience of events like weapon presence).
- Stress levels can influence memory retention.

Factors Affecting What Gets Encoded:
- Amount of exposure to the event.
- Duration of the episode.
- Frequency of exposure (repetitions).
- Formation of memory scripts.
- Distinction between participation and mere observation.
- Age-related differences in memory capabilities.

Changes Over Time:
- Trace Decay:
- Memories can fade over time, affecting recall accuracy.
- Delays of many months between events and initial reporting, then further delays until the trial.
- Knowledge Reinterpretation:
- New insights can alter remembered details; memories become reconstructed rather than reproduced.
Intervening Experiences:
- Positive reinforcement can assist recall.
- Negative effects:
- Suggestibility can lead to distorted memories.
  - Sam Stone Study:
  - Involved a preschool visit where children were influenced by differing narrative conditions (stereotype vs. suggestion).
  - Stereotype Condition: Children view Sam as kind but clumsy.
  - Suggestion Condition: Post-visit suggestions indicate Sam behaved destructively (ripped book, soiled teddy).
  - Control group showed varying levels of suggestibility correlated with age.

Constructive Factors:
- Recall is not purely retrieval; it involves constructing a narrative based on logical assumptions, which can lead to inaccuracies.
Language Factors:
- Child's language competence impacts their recall.
- Certain word meanings can overlap, leading to confusion.

Often children provide limited information because they believe adults already have that information.
A child may interpret the act of repeating a question as a signal that their first response was incorrect.
Children may hesitate to admit they do not know something, and thinks they must answer, influencing their reported accuracy.
The kid doesn’t say that they don’t know, they feel compelled to give an answer
Dynamics of Retrieval

Communication Strategies:
- Use of simple grammar and vocabulary is crucial.
- Kids are not as developed in this sense!
- Vocabulary differences exist; (clothes vs pajamas)
- Younger children are likely to give spontaneous, less detailed responses.
- The interviewer often resorts to asking a higher number of specific questions, which can lead to problems.
- Types of Questions Explored:
  - Yes/No questions can limit recall.
  - Example of percentages for child responses:
  - -

Ineffectiveness of Interviews
- A Tennessee study indicated that alternative interviewing techniques do not yield helpful results if they are not actively utilized.
Types of Questions in Investigations
- In an Arizona case involving the sexual abuse of a 28-month-old child:
- All questions that formed the basis for investigation were specific yes/no or one-word responses.

Underutilization of Training
- Although many interviewers undergo formal training, there is a tendency for them to revert to old interview methods over time.
- Unavailable in rural areas
Jurisdictional Factors
- Certain jurisdictions have specialized units focusing on interviews, yet these are seldom employed in court, particularly by defense attorneys.

Importance of Rapport
- Establishing rapport with an interviewer is often problematic and can significantly impact the quality of the interview results.
Coercion Issues
- Interviews may involve coercive tactics that can influence the responses of the interviewee.
Leading and Suggestive Questions
- The use of leading and suggestive questions can create biases in responses, undermining the integrity of the interview process.

Preschool Sexual Abuse Case
- Example related to how interviews concerning allegations of sexual abuse in preschool settings may be poorly conducted.
- Questioner is being coercive of the child to reveal something. Trying to establish friendship.
- “We can get out of here quick if you tell me what you said last time”
- '“Everyone else said it, can you say it too?”
- Bribery with child.
- All interviews were coercive and fabricated.
Murder or Accident
- Example highlighting the lack of clarity and professionalism in discerning whether a case pertains to murder or accident, reflective of inadequate interviewing techniques.
- Kevin dialed 911, saying infant brother was not breathing. Baby was dead. Kevin was also cognitively deficient.
- Interviewer was well known to the child.
- Kevin’s answers changed throughout the interviews, yielding to suggestions.
- Police figured he was mad, and Kevin said he was not.
- Interviewer influenced the child into saying he was indeed mad. After summarizing these ‘events’, child suggested perhaps he was mad.
- After coercing the child, the child seemed to confess. He was convicted

Memory Implantation
- Memories can be implanted through various means; several examples illustrate this:
- Research involving Piaget in a kidnapping case; researcher said she remembered being kidnapped as an infant (for a raise)
- involving an 8-year-old and a psychiatrist, indicating how external influences can distort memory. Psychiatrist fabricated SA memories in her child to get back at her ex husband.
- Studies surrounding the McMartin preschool case and other similar incidents reflecting problematic memory recollection.
Implications
- There are significant implications for the legal and psychological realms regarding the accuracy and reliability of memory in young children and how it affects court proceedings.

Children as Witnesses
- Despite the potential issues highlighted, it is concluded that children CAN and SHOULD serve as reliable witnesses in legal contexts, contingent upon the quality and manner of their interviews.

Research Focus
- Investigation into how well children can remember stressful injuries, highlighting the complexities in child psychology and recall under pressure.