Eyewitness Testimony: Pain and Free Memory Recall

Eyewitness testimony is a critical form of evidence in police investigations and the forensic process ((Jack, Leov, & Zajac, 2014; Sarwar, Allwood, & Innes-Ker, 2014). It is important to ensure information recalled during an eyewitness testimony is accurate. Freely recalling details of an incident, although critical, can be difficult to do with precise accuracy and even more difficult if the individual was experiencing pain at the time the incident occurred. Reinstating the individual’s environment, mental context, and physical cues from the time the incident (Jack, et. al., 2014; Robinson & Rollings, 2011) provides them with the best opportunity for their memories to be accurate, thus, increasing the effectiveness of the eyewitness testimony process