Are Children Unsuitable Eyewitnesses

Previous research has argued that children can have a weak memory, stating that this makes them unsuitable eyewitnesses, however, there is also evidence which argues to the contrary. Children have a relatively simple model of memory, information is processed in working memory and this processing determines its transfer to long term memory. When children at 5 years of age took part in the digit span task, they were able to remember 4 or 5 digits; this increased to 6 digits at 9 years of age (Baddeley & Logie, 1992). This is significant as adults are typically able to remember 7 digits, showing that children's memory is not necessarily as inferior to adults as previously portrayed. Lipmann (1911) stated that the memory of a child can be just as good as that of an adult, as they are inclined to remember things in a different way and pay particular attention to details which adults often disregard. Children's
Memory develops with age, therefore, children can suffer with gaps in their memory. This is particularly relevant in young children; Goodman and Reed (1986) found that 3 year old children who conversed with an unfamiliar adult were unable to identify the man and unable to recall as much information about the event than the 6 year old children after 4 or 5 days subsequent to the encounter. Similarly, children who experience traumatic events in their childhood, for example dog bites, when they were less than 18 months old, were unable to verbally recall the event when tested at an older age (Terr 1998). This demonstrates that although a child may have information about an event, to the extent that they know what happened, there are gaps in their memory which mean they are unable to recall accurately, which in turn, affects their competency at giving reliable eyewitness