Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Witness Memory

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.220105.050How to use a DOI?

Keywords

eyewitness; testimony; memory accuracy; memory; gender; external factors; internal factors

Abstract

Witness testimony and its accuracy play a very important role in the process of judicial decision. Therefore, it is particularly important for scholars and law enforcement personnel to study the internal and external factors that can affect the accuracy of testimony and witness memory. It is also necessary to take certain measures to ensure the accuracy of testimony. Since the 20th century, many experiments have been verifying whether the witness’s own factors and external influence will affect the accuracy of testimony and the credibility of witness identity. This article will analyze the internal and external factors affecting the accuracy of witness memory, and put forward feasible solutions. Based on previous research conclusions, this article explains whether congenital factors such as the age and gender of witnesses are related to the accuracy of testimony. At the same time, it also analyzes some external factors involved in the judicial process that may interfere with the interrogation process, such as the relationship between question types and accuracy, the misleading of repeated questions to witnesses. These experiments demonstrate that the accuracy of children’s testimony is lower than that of adults, and the accuracy of women in adults is relatively higher than that of men. They also explain the misunderstanding that people should not adopt the testimony of drunken witnesses. At the same time, they also prove the advantages of open questions in maintaining the accuracy of testimony.

Copyright

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.

Open Access

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Haoge Ma
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/01/17
TI  - Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Witness Memory
BT  - Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Social Development and Media Communication (SDMC 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 262
EP  - 265
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220105.050
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.220105.050
ID  - Ma2022
ER  -