Howe Mark L
a Department of Psychology , Lancaster University , Lancaster , UK.
Memory. 2013 Jul;21(5):576-583. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2012.725735. Epub 2012 Sep 21.
In the first part of this article I describe a variety of cases that I have been involved with that led to my becoming an expert witness. These cases range from questions about children's memory for being raped, to remembering an ear-witnessed murder, to preventing future false memories. In the second part of this article I reflect on some of the remarkable feats of remembering that complainants exhibit in court, ones that contradict much of what the scientific study of memory has shown to be true. Along the way I argue that until this scientific knowledge becomes part of a "culture of memory" familiar to triers of fact (judges, jurors), police, and laypeople, memory experts will continue to be an inexorable part of the legal process when memory serves as the main or only evidence.
在本文的第一部分，我描述了一系列我参与过的案例，正是这些案例让我成为了一名专家证人。这些案例涵盖了从儿童对被强奸的记忆问题，到对耳闻目睹的谋杀案的记忆，再到防止未来出现虚假记忆等各种情况。在本文的第二部分，我思考了一些申诉人在法庭上展现出的非凡记忆壮举，这些壮举与记忆科学研究中许多已被证明的事实相矛盾。在此过程中，我认为，在这种科学知识成为事实认定者（法官、陪审员）、警察和普通民众所熟知的“记忆文化”的一部分之前，当记忆作为主要或唯一证据时，记忆专家仍将不可避免地成为法律程序的一部分。
