The effect of a five‐month delay on children's and adults' eyewitness memory

Abstract

Child witnesses must endure a delay of around six months between observing or being the victim of an alleged offence and being required to give evidence in a criminal court. While the legal profession seem to believe that young children's memories are particularly sensitive to the passage of time, developmental psychology can offer little relevant data to support or refute this presumption. In the present study, children aged six and nine years and adults witnessed a staged event and were subsequently interviewed in the days following the event and/or five months later. Results indicate that while all witnesses forgot information over this period, the younger children (six years) recalled slightly less information than the older children and the adults. The total amount of incorrect information recalled did not increase over the same period. Two different interviewing techniques were used--cued recall vs. 'enhanced' recall--the latter incorporating some aspects of the cognitive interview procedure. No differences were found relating to the interview techniques employed. The results underline the importance of recording initial interviews with child witnesses wherever possible.

The influence of an early interview on long‐term recall: a comparative analysis

“…The results of the Peterson studies (1996;1999;Peterson & Bell, 1996;Peterson & Whalen, 2001) address an important and forensically relevant question: Do long retention delays have differential memory effects depending on the ages of children? More specifically, her results challenge the validity of the legal professional's long standing belief that long delays between incident and questioning heightens forgetting by young children (Flin, Boon, Knox, & Bull, 1992).…”

“…This topic is forensically relevant since children's participation in the judicial system is significantly increasing and it is important to understand the level of accuracy of their recollections over the long-term as it bears directly on whether or not they will be considered credible witnesses. The legal profession appears to be of the opinion that with the passage of time children's memories become especially vulnerable and that the younger the child the more deleterious the effect (Flin, Boon, Knox, & Bull, 1992).…”

Making the most of information‐gathering interviews with children

“…These accounts are generally quite accurate, although young children tend to provide briefer free narratives than do older children and adults (e.g. Flin, Boon, Knox, & Bull, 1992;Goodman & Reed, 1986;Lamb et al, 2003).…”

The enhanced cognitive interview: expressions of uncertainty, motivation and its relation with report accuracy

“…However, memory is not so accurate and what witnesses actually report rarely corresponds fully with what they remember (Bower, 1967), particularly when inadequate interviewing techniques are used (Flin, Boon, Knox, & Bull, 1992).…”