Expert Testimony on Memory: Valid or Not?

Steven K. Erickson, University of Pennsylvania Law School

Abstract

Some of the most promising research in psychology and law has focused on issues of memory and cognition. Because eyewitness testimony is often valued by juries and the justice system alike, conclusions that eyewitness testimony can be inaccurate and overvalued are hotly contested by scholars and policy-makers. As additional studies build on older ones demonstrating that a host of memory and cognitive processes often involved in litigation can be unreliable—such as eyewitness identification—expert testimony related to these concepts has increased...