ABSTRACT
If an event is recognized as being of forensic interest and if it is reported to the authorities, eyewitnesses’ descriptions of its details, including its environmental (spatial and temporal) context, the persons involved, and their conversations, comments, and actions, are usually gathered within minutes, hours, or days after the event. However, given the procedures and vagaries of most investigations and justice systems, subsequent eyewitness descriptions of the event may not be heard at inquiries or trials for months or years later. If, in contrast, the event is not so recognized or if it is not reported to the authorities, or if investigators require substantial time to develop the case, the first recall of its details may not occur for even longer periods of time. That is, witnesses are not always aware that they have, in fact, witnessed a criminal act, and some are reluctant to report a crime that they know has been committed. For example, fraud (e.g., passing of bogus checks) may not be recognized as such for a considerable period of time (months to years). Recall of other types of witnessed events is also often on the order of years; for example, recollection of child sexual abuse (CSA) by adult complainants (usually victims, sometimes witnesses) is delayed for a variety of reasons, including a failure to interpret the alleged events as criminal or abusive (Connolly & Read, 2003). Moreover, unlike the single events of, for instance, assault, robbery, or fraud, adults’ recollections of some crimes (like CSA and spousal assault) may also include descriptions of multiple repeated and interrelated events. In rare cases, witnesses have been exposed to multiple independent crimes (e.g., bank robberies and terrorist attacks), and recall of each could be examined (e.g., Christianson & Hübinette, 1993; Connolly & Price, 2005; Edery-Halpern & Nachson, 2004).
