The traps of memory: psychological contributions for the collection and evaluation of statements of victims and witnesses in cases of sexual violence

The study aims to identify and systematize practical criteria and recommendations based on the best available scientific evidence on the psychology of memory, which can be applied by justice operators (forensic psychologists, lawyers, prosecutors, judges, police force personnel ) at the different times and processes for collecting and evaluating the statements of victims and witnesses of sexual violence. For this purpose, a systematic search of the best available evidence during the last decade will be carried out, which will be systematized and ranked. Likewise, a systematization of jurisprudence will be carried out that allows illustrating in specific cases the importance of the recommendations that will be formulated.

Psychological research on memory has identified that our memories can be distorted and even that, through different processes of suggestion, it is possible to implant certain memories or create equivocal certainties (Schacter, 2001; Loftus, 2005, 1997; Loftus and Pickrell , nineteen ninety five). It might seem that these discoveries collide with the search for justice in those cases of sexual violence in which, due to the nature of the crime, there is no material evidence and the achievement of justice falls on the statements of victims or witnesses. However, it is rather the opposite. Hence, our research problem is: What criteria and practical recommendations for the collection and evaluation of statements from victims and witnesses of sexual violence are derived from the best current evidence on the psychology of memory?