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it can be shown that Man’s Fate is
made by men.
This is another thing that can be done in various ways. For example, one might tell the story of a
peasant farm—a farm in Iceland, let us say. The whole village is talking about the curse that hovers
over this farm. One peasant woman threw herself down a well; the peasant owner hanged himself. One
day a marriage takes place between the peasant’s son and a girl whose dowry is several acres of good
land. The curse seems to lift from the farm. The village is divided in its judgment of the cause of this
fortunate turn of events. Some ascribe it to the sunny disposition of the peasant’s young son, others
to the new fields which the young wife added to the farm, and which have now made it large enough to
provide a livelihood.
But even
in a poem which simply describes a landscape something can be achieved, if
..."
The
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has
released a new research report about how memory affects child sexual
abuse prosecutions.
Professor Jane Goodman-Delahunty from Charles Sturt University, Associate Professor Mark A Nolan from the Australian National University and Dr Evianne van Gijn-Grosvenor were contracted by the Royal Commission to examine contemporary psychological scientific research evidence on memory.
The research report, Empirical Guidance on the Effects of Child Sexual Abuse on Memory and Complainants’ Evidence, outlines research findings that “common sense” beliefs about memory, frequently held by police, lawyers, judges, juries and laypeople, did not correspond with scientific knowledge about memory.
The research identifies a number of misconceptions that people hold about how memory works, and what memories are reliable. It reports that misconceptions about memory include that memory will be complete, unchanging and “photographic”.
There are also misconceptions about the accuracy of people’s memory. Wrong assumptions may be made about a connection between accuracy of a memory and consistency of accounts given by a witness, where inconsistencies or gaps may be assumed to demonstrate inaccuracy in the witness’s accounts as a whole.
The research finds there were misconceptions about the display of emotion while giving evidence being an indicator of accuracy of the memory retrieved.
Traumatic events resulting in greater durability of memory is another misconception as is expectations about children’s ability to recall temporal details, such as when an event occurred or how often it occurred, the report found.
A witness recalling additional information over time as they give further accounts of the event may be mistakenly considered with suspicion or as an indication of unreliability.
Understanding how human memory works, and how memory might be affected for child and adult complainants of child sexual abuse, is important to inform issues such as:
Professor Jane Goodman-Delahunty from Charles Sturt University, Associate Professor Mark A Nolan from the Australian National University and Dr Evianne van Gijn-Grosvenor were contracted by the Royal Commission to examine contemporary psychological scientific research evidence on memory.
The research report, Empirical Guidance on the Effects of Child Sexual Abuse on Memory and Complainants’ Evidence, outlines research findings that “common sense” beliefs about memory, frequently held by police, lawyers, judges, juries and laypeople, did not correspond with scientific knowledge about memory.
The research identifies a number of misconceptions that people hold about how memory works, and what memories are reliable. It reports that misconceptions about memory include that memory will be complete, unchanging and “photographic”.
There are also misconceptions about the accuracy of people’s memory. Wrong assumptions may be made about a connection between accuracy of a memory and consistency of accounts given by a witness, where inconsistencies or gaps may be assumed to demonstrate inaccuracy in the witness’s accounts as a whole.
The research finds there were misconceptions about the display of emotion while giving evidence being an indicator of accuracy of the memory retrieved.
Traumatic events resulting in greater durability of memory is another misconception as is expectations about children’s ability to recall temporal details, such as when an event occurred or how often it occurred, the report found.
A witness recalling additional information over time as they give further accounts of the event may be mistakenly considered with suspicion or as an indication of unreliability.
Understanding how human memory works, and how memory might be affected for child and adult complainants of child sexual abuse, is important to inform issues such as:
- how police should interview child and adult complainants of child sexual abuse
- what particulars a complainant of child sexual abuse should reasonably be expected to provide about the alleged abuse
- whether particular features, such as inconsistencies in accounts given by a complainant over time, are a good indicator of unreliability
- what assistance juries should be given in relation to assessing a complainant’s evidence.
“This research may help contribute to the education of police and the legal profession on what child victims of sexual abuse can be expected to remember,” he said.
A Royal Commission report on Criminal Justice, to be released in coming months, will draw on this research and its implication for the criminal justice system.
The report will contain the Commissioners’ recommendations to reform the way the criminal justice system responds to child sexual abuse, including child sexual abuse in an institutional context.
READ the report
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