In 1984, there was a African American called Ronald Cotton. There was an accident in Jennifer Thompson’s house. The rapist broke into Thompson’s apartment through back of the door. The noise awakened her. The man came into her bedroom, and forced her to submit to sexual intercourse. During the attack she studied the rapist’s face, showed to identify him if she survived the attack. Thompson remembered her assailant’s face and she worked with police to create a composite sketch of the rapist. When presented with a photo lineup, she identified Cotton as her rapist. She testified against him twice, even after seeing Bobby Poole. After nine years, Cotton was watching the Simpson trial unfold on TV when he heard about a miraculous new test that could prove his innocence. So he asked to take DNA test. And the results came back, DNA testing proved that Poole was real rapist. Thompson has since become a critic of the reliability of eyewitness testimony. She was remorseful after learning that Ronal was an innocent who was sent to prison.
A false memory is a fabricated or distorted recollection of an event that did not actually happen. People often think of memory as something like a video recorder, accurately documenting and storing everything that happens with perfect accuracy and clarity. In reality, memory is very prone to fallacy. People can feel completely confident that their memory is accurate, but this confidence is no guarantee that particular memory is correct.
I think the witness is not usefulness. From Jennifer Thompsom’s memory of the rapist, she confused the face of rapist. Her witness is not exactly true, because the false memory involve confusing or mixing fragments of memory events, some of which may have happened at different times but which are remembered as occurring together. Over time, memories become distorted and begin to change. In some case, the original memory may be changed in order to incorporate new information or experiences.
Žiadne komentáre:
Zverejnenie komentára