EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY

Eyewitness Testimony

Eyewitness testimony

Introduction

Eyewitness testimony is referred to the account that is presented by a bystander in the courtroom describing their perception during the incident under investigation in the courtroom. In most of the cases, this recollection of the events is detailed for making judgment, but this is not always the procedure in every court case. This recollection is a source of presenting the events from the perspective of the witness at the time of the incident. Memory recall was considered to be the most important source in solving numerous cases in the past, but the advancement sin forensic have now presented that the perceptions of the individuals should not be considered effective and reliable for making a case decision. The core focus of this paper is to discuss the importance of eyewitness theory and the role of memory recall in the modern world with the help of a theory.

Discussion

Memory recall is a major element in eyewitness testimony and plays a vital role in presenting the perception of the individuals relating to the incident under investigation. Eyewitness testimony is an important source of seeking a judgment in a court case. Memory recall plays a vital role in the process of eyewitness testimony, and it is due to effective memory recall that an individual could present during a case in the courtroom (Cutler, 1995, pp. 88). It is very important to understand that eyewitness testimony is very important in the modern society for solving a court case. Bartlett's theory of Reconstructive Memory is a key to understand the importance of eyewitness testimony.

Reconstructive Memory

Reconstructive memory refers to a theory that elaborates memory recall that is proposed within the area of cognitive psychology in which the act of remembering the previous actions is influenced by a number of cognitive processes including imagination, perception, beliefs and semantic memory. It is very obvious that Bartlett developed a theory based on reconstructive memory and it is considered very important for understanding the reliability of eyewitness testimony. It was also suggested by Bartlett that memory recall is a very important subject to the personal interpretation that is dependent on the learnt cultural norms and values and the way in which we make sense to the entire world. It is also believed by a large amount of people that memory works like a videotape.

Importance of Eyewitness Testimony

The process of storing information in the memory is like recording and ...