RECONSTRUCTIVE MEMEORY AND JUDICIAL SYSTEM

Reconstructive Memory and Judicial System

Reconstructive Memory and Judicial System

Introduction

Memory is a constructive and reconstructive process. The memory of an event deviates systematically from the objective reality from which it originates, in the time of formation (through constructive processes) and later (through reconstructive memories).

Practice

Practitioners of law may share the same interest as ours. They need to examine whether the defendant's confession, the testimony of an eyewitness or a victim are based on their real experiences or not. How do we know whether what these people remember is real or false when we, as decision makers, never have access to the original events? Memory researchers have proposed several ways to estimate false memories.

The law practitioner share very similar interest as us. They intend to explore that the confession of defendants are actually based on the actual experiences of the eyewitnesses or not. How do we come to know that the actual story which they tell is is real or based on their past reconstructive experiences as we as decision makers don't have the access to it.

There is a famous interesting story about a criminal case. There was a criminal whose narrative style of his original experience was completely different from his actual incident of crim. He had myriad chances to discuss about the event which many people also knew but he portrayed different scenarios such as he said something before and then turned from it then he said number of other things. The court finally decided that this experience was not based on his experience but it was based on other story that was dominant in his mind.

There are two reasons for that preference.

First, it was impossible to access the original event and compare it with the contents of the defendant's remembering.

Second, the information people recall could be constructed by the secondary information and people's imagination.

The impact of reconstructive memory can be lethal for the judicial proceedings because it can direct to misleading directions. Reconstructive memory sometimes brings the proceeding into a new horizon.

Relative to the reconstructive production, more of the original information will be present, and thematic constructions will be minimal. Since, according to this perspective, memory for prose includes both thematic and detailed attributes, the conditions prevailing at the time of recall will be critical determinants of the type of recall protocol one observes. Relative to the reconstructive production, more of the original information will be present, and thematic constructions will be minimal. Since, according to this perspective, memory for prose includes both thematic and detailed attributes, the conditions prevailing at the time of recall will be critical determinants of the type of recall protocol one observes.

The Case of Jennifer Thompson

In December 1986, Ronald Cotton was tried in Burlington, North Carolina, accused of sexually assaulting a college student named Jennifer Thompson. The student testified that during the ordeal which occurred at night in her room she carefully examined the face of her ...