A study done at Cornell that was published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology suggests that adults have fewer false memories of stressful events than do children. This finding is contradictory to the hitherto conventional wisdom expressed by legal experts. The finding has large ramifications for the criminal justice system, as testimonies from adults and children are often evaluated differently. Until now, most thought that adults have better memories of traumatizing events. Therefore, adult testimonies were taken more seriously, and were considered to be the final word if they contained information opposite to that of a child’s testimony. However, the tables may now have turned completely the other way.
Of course, children are not good at remembering negative events either; they are just better than adults, according to the study. So, the more valuable finding of this study is likely that testimonies in general are unreliable. Despite this, they are the key source of evidence in any criminal case.
