ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on memory strengths and deficiencies in individuals with intellectual disabilities (i.e., mental retardation, autism) or various psychological impairments (i.e., schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, dissociative disorder, substance abuse, trauma). For each population, we review empirical work on memory and false memory, and discuss implications for eyewitness testimony. Because many of these disorders have been understudied, we also emphasize methodological limitations and suggestions for future research. These disorders generally are marked by complicated patterns of memory strengths and weaknesses that render decisions regarding reliability and validity of memory reports quite difficult. Understanding the ability of these individuals to serve as witnesses is important, because many of these disorders are associated with higher rates of criminal contact, perpetration, and victimization. Although we assume that cognitive impairments resulting from the short-term abuse of substances like alcohol and other 262drugs are temporary, unlike the chronic nature of other disorders described herein, an understanding of these impairments is nonetheless relevant to legal procedure. Equal justice in legal contexts for all of these populations requires greater understanding of their cognitive abilities and limitations.
