Eyewitness Memory - Child Testimony

Child Testimony

Children's testimony refers to when children are required to testify in court after witnessing or being involved in a crime. In situations where a child is the main witness of a crime, the result of the hearing is dependent on the child's memory of the event. And there are several important issues associated with eyewitness memory of children. For example, the accuracy of the child's explanation, in such situations, coupled with how well the child can identify the setting of the crime and the individuals involved in the crime, influence the credibility of the child's testimony. Sometimes, children can correctly report details of a crime they witnessed or experienced and can identify those responsible, but child eyewitnesses can also create false memories.

Like all eyewitnesses, child eyewitnesses are subject to memory errors. However, a child victim or eyewitness poses additional challenges to law enforcement because children often have a limited vocabulary, a desire to please the officer, or difficulty answering questions because of trauma. Using early childhood memories in eyewitness testimony can also be challenging because for the first 1–2 years of life, brain structures such as the limbic system, which holds the hippocampus and the amygdala and is involved in memory storage, are not yet fully developed. Research has demonstrated that children can remember events from before the age of 3–4 years, but that these memories decline as children get older (see childhood amnesia).

Children can be involved in testimony not only when they are witnesses, but also when they are victims. Due to the sensitivity of these cases, strategic interviewing is implemented for children, which may result in the validity of the memory to suffer. Strategic interviewing must be assessed with sensitivity on an individual bases and without leading questions, as they may influence the child's answer. Additional influences may include individuals surrounding the child prior to, and during the hearing. If children hear new information from such individuals, studies show that children will more than likely agree with what the others said – regardless of the child's initial opinion.

Studies on children show that the average child is at greater risk for memory loss, due to the brain's immaturity and plasticity, when compared to an average adult. Poorer memory performance in young kids was shown when youth of different ages were asked to recall a doctor's visit. Children aged 3–5 answered with much less accuracy than individuals aged 6–15, indicating developmental differences in memory capacity. However, children often demonstrate high accuracy in remembering events that are personally meaningful, such as genital contact, which is prevalent in cases of sexual assault. Furthermore, it has been shown that information encoded and stored in memory is dependent on the extent of knowledge regarding the event. That is, if a child is exposed to an event that he or she knows little about, their memory of the event will not be as accurate when compared to a child who is more knowledgeable on event-related topics. These results of increased sensitivity, suggestibility and memory loss in children lead one to question the competency of a child to serve as an eyewitness. Researchers have determined that a child should be considered a competent witness if he or she has the capacity to observe, communicate, produce sufficient memories, differentiate truth from lies, and understand the obligation to tell the truth.