By: Ipek Yurttutan
Eyewitness memory plays a significant role in up to 75% of wrongful convictions in a
criminal justice system. Because of the nature of our memories, some information
might get lost or new piece of information might alter what we remember. According
to Gail S. Goodman and Jennifer M Schaat, it is still up to debate if accepting
misleading information that is suggested in leading questions may change
children’s memory. Emotions may play a big role as the misleading questions
during an interview when a child is an eyewitness and, therefore, memory
accuracy may depend on the child’s emotional state. It is important that the
interviewee does not take advantage of the children because they interpret the
world differently than we do. More
research is needed in order to determine whether children are reliable as
eyewitnesses and if an age restriction should also be required for children’s
testimony to be taken as evidence during trials.
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Source:
CounselingRx 