Can you remember what you had for lunch yesterday? Does it take a bit of effort to recall your mother-in-law's birthday? Are you comfortable trusting your life to an eyewitness who struggles to remember crucial details while testifying against you?
Kids play an entertaining game called Telephone where one child whispers a short phrase to the next child, who then whispers it to the third one. Once the last child in line finally hears the sentence and recites it back to the group, it has been retold with so many errors that it's completely distorted. This phenomenon of human nature, which illustrates how differently people perceive the same situation, also holds true when relying upon eyewitness testimony and false memories as irrefutable courtroom evidence.
Blind Trust
The inherent fallibility of eyewitness testimony has been the focus of myriad debates, with research illustrating how first-hand observers are easily distracted by certain lines of questioning: their recollection becomes skewed and the answers they provide meld into what they perceive to be the truth. Elizabeth Loftus has spent much of her life tracking this particular phenomenon, noting how details surface more readily with repeated and exhaustive questioning; as such, eyewitness answers no longer pertain to the events that occurred, but rather to the leading questions being asked.
Blind Trust
The inherent fallibility of eyewitness testimony has been the focus of myriad debates, with research illustrating how first-hand observers are easily distracted by certain lines of questioning: their recollection becomes skewed and the answers they provide meld into what they perceive to be the truth. Elizabeth Loftus has spent much of her life tracking this particular phenomenon, noting how details surface more readily with repeated and exhaustive questioning; as such, eyewitness answers no longer pertain to the events that occurred, but rather to the leading questions being asked.
Employing recovered memories as an eyewitness proves even more dangerous for getting at the truth, given the trend toward psychotherapy that compels individuals to "remember" things that either did not happen or whose facts have been so altered that only a smattering of truth remains. The techniques by which this often erroneous information is extracted have come under considerable scrutiny, standing accused of instigating the repressed – if not faulty – memories that too easily put innocent people behind bars.
"Therapists' accounts, patients' accounts, and sworn statements from litigation," says Loftus, "have revealed that highly suggestive techniques go on in some therapists' offices." Loftus, who has spent an entire career pointing out the dangers of blind trust particularly when dealing with the fate of an individual on trial, claims "the most horrifying idea is that what we believe with all our hearts is not necessarily the truth."
The Lie That Ruined A Life
The Gerald Amirault case presents a particularly disturbing example of the feeding frenzy that develops from false accusation. Based solely upon the coerced testimony of young children who claimed the Fells Acres Day School attendant sexually abused them, a wholly innocent man was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison; his mother and sister, both of whom were teachers at the day care, were given 8-20 years under the same umbrella of erroneous accusation and false witness.
The real story of what occurred bears no resemblance to the one that spread like wildfire: Gerald -- whose job was to perform odd jobs around the facility such as repairing, cooking and driving –- changed clothes on a 4-year-old boy who had wet them during nap time. A completely acceptable action was turned into an flagrant lie by a child with a history of behavioral issues including dishonesty and hostility. The story that forever ruined Gerald's life had him taking the boy into a secret room where he molested and raped the child.
Gerald was granted a release in 2004, 18 years after being convicted of a crime he did not commit, but his nightmare was far from over. Branded a level three sex offender, saddled 24/7 with an electronic tracking device and forced to abide by strict curfew, he's hardly a free man. As Damian Penny duly points out, "a justice system is only as good as the flawed human beings who run it, and the system has failed Gerard Amirault miserably. Witch hunts tend to backfire in the long run, as people start to assume the witches never existed in the first place."
The Lie That Ruined A Life
The Gerald Amirault case presents a particularly disturbing example of the feeding frenzy that develops from false accusation. Based solely upon the coerced testimony of young children who claimed the Fells Acres Day School attendant sexually abused them, a wholly innocent man was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison; his mother and sister, both of whom were teachers at the day care, were given 8-20 years under the same umbrella of erroneous accusation and false witness.
The real story of what occurred bears no resemblance to the one that spread like wildfire: Gerald -- whose job was to perform odd jobs around the facility such as repairing, cooking and driving –- changed clothes on a 4-year-old boy who had wet them during nap time. A completely acceptable action was turned into an flagrant lie by a child with a history of behavioral issues including dishonesty and hostility. The story that forever ruined Gerald's life had him taking the boy into a secret room where he molested and raped the child.
Gerald was granted a release in 2004, 18 years after being convicted of a crime he did not commit, but his nightmare was far from over. Branded a level three sex offender, saddled 24/7 with an electronic tracking device and forced to abide by strict curfew, he's hardly a free man. As Damian Penny duly points out, "a justice system is only as good as the flawed human beings who run it, and the system has failed Gerard Amirault miserably. Witch hunts tend to backfire in the long run, as people start to assume the witches never existed in the first place."
Children's photo from Wonder Time
Yep and Yep!Eye Witness testimony is the worst. Two people standing next to each other, witnessing the exact same event and the exact same time will have vastly different recounts of what happened.
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