MPORT: Early statements and eyewitness memory
Short description
Recent changes in the Swedish law have expanded the use of eyewitness statements recorded early during the preliminary investigation as evidence in court. In this research track, we are conducting three experiments to examine the psychological consequences of the use of early statements. The studies focus on the effects of time and repeated interviews on eyewitness memory and perceived statement reliability.
This research strand examines the possible consequences of documenting early oral testimony for later presentation as evidence at a court hearing. There are several obvious advantages to early documentation of evidence, such as the possibility of calling witnesses who would be reluctant to participate in a main hearing, as well as reducing the risk of the memory impact that can occur over a longer period of time.
Based on previous research, when a witness is interviewed a long time after the crime, we expect their memory to be less accurate for two main reasons. First, the passage of time weakens their memory. Second, repeated interviews can introduce errors and cause memory distortions. However, these ideas have not yet been put to test in experimental research. Usually, research looking into memory for complex events, such as crime, has short timespans, limited to several days or a few weeks.
In this project, we will investigate how eyewitness memory is influenced by 1) the time elapsed since the witnessed event, and 2) repeated investigative interviews. We will examine a much longer, and more realistic, time frame (from a few days up to 1.5 years). Another important aspect to investigate is how early (vs. late) documented statements are perceived and assessed. We have hence started studies investigating how the perceived reliability of a statement is affected by the time elapsed between the event and the statement.