Court Recognizes False Memories

In a very important legal development, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has recognized the existence of "false memories" and the fact that children who have accused adults of abusing them may actually be operating from manufactured memories of the alleged attacks. As a consequence, the testimony of these children may simply not be admissible in court.

The Philadelphia Inquirer explains:

In an opinion filed Thursday, the court ruled that defendants in sex-abuse cases are entitled to a pretrial hearing at which they can attempt to show that a child's recollection of abuse was tainted by suggestive interviewing techniques. "Common experience informs us that children are, by their very essence, fanciful creatures who have difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality; who when asked a question want to give the 'right' answer, the answer that pleases the interrogator; who are subject to repeat ideas placed in their heads by others; and who have limited capacity for accurate memory," Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy wrote. ... Justice Russell M. Nigro dissented, saying he thought the issue of whether a child's "supposed memory of an event should be believed" is an issue of credibility, not competency, and should, therefore, be left to a jury.

I think that Nigro is wrong and that his decision reveals that he doesn't actually understand what is going on here. He talks about whether the children are "credible," as if this were a question of honesty and/or accuracy in memory - but that isn't the case. These kids aren't lying and they are faithfully reporting what their memories are of their experiences. These kids are very credible.

This is, instead, more arguably a question of competence because while the children are credible, their memories have sometimes been so distorted that they are no longer able to distinguish between truth and untruth. They reliably and credibly remember things that simply never happened. Credible witnesses aren't always competent witnesses.

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