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Empirical Guidance on the Effects of Child Sexual Abuse on Memory and Complainants’ Evidence

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Empirical Guidance on the Effects of Child Sexual Abuse on Memory and Complainants’ Evidence Report for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse JULY 2017 EMPIRICAL GUIDANCE ON THE EFFECTS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE ON MEMORY AND COMPLAINANTS’ EVIDENCE JANE GOODMAN-DELAHUNTY MARK A NOLAN EVIANNE L VAN GIJN-GROSVENOR The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse commissioned and funded this research project. The following researchers carried it out: Jane Goodman-Delahunty Mark A Nolan Evianne L van Gijn-Grosvenor Disclaimer The views and findings expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Copyright information Goodman-Delahunty, J, Nolan, M A and van Gijn-Grosvenor, E L (2017). Empirical Guidance on the Effects of Child Sexual Abuse on Memory and Complainants’ Evidence. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Sydney. ISBN 978-1-925622-18-8 © Commonwealth of Australia 2017 All material in this report is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Australia licence. Please see www.creativecommons.org/licenses for conditions and the full legal code relating to this licence. Published date: July 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse EMPIRICAL GUIDANCE ON THE EFFECTS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE ON MEMORY AND COMPLAINANTS’ EVIDENCE Jane Goodman-Delahunty Mark A Nolan Evianne L van Gijn-Grosvenor July 2017 i Preface On Friday, 11 January 2013, the Governor-General appointed the six-member Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (the Royal Commission) to inquire into how institutions with a responsibility for children have managed and responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse. The Royal Commission’s role is to investigate where systems have failed to protect children, and make recommendations on how to improve laws, policies and practices to prevent and better respond to child sexual abuse in institutions. The Royal Commission has developed a comprehensive research program to support its work and inform its findings and recommendations. The program focuses on eight themes: 1. Why does child sexual abuse occur in institutions? 2. How can child sexual abuse in institutions be prevented? 3. How can child sexual abuse be better identified? 4. How should institutions respond when child sexual abuse has occurred? 5. How should government and statutory authorities respond? 6. What are the treatment and support needs of victims and their families? 7. What is the history of particular institutions of interest? 8. How do we ensure the Royal Commission has a positive impact? This research report falls within theme eight. The research program means the Royal Commission can: • obtain relevant background information • fill key evidence gaps • explore what is known and what works • develop recommendations that are informed by evidence, can be implemented and respond to contemporary issues. For more on this program visit www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/research. ii Acknowledgements The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse commissioned and funded this research project. The authors gratefully acknowledge the research assistance of the following contributors: Michael Corke Sarah Deck Fauve D’Souza Megan Fraser Dr Karen Gelb Natalie Hodgson Brendan Hutchinson Daniel Law Dr Chelsea Leach Natalie Martschuk Stella Palmer Tara Peramatukorn Jessica Pratley Rebecca Seah Dr Berenike Waubert de Puiseau Vana Webster The project benefited from consultation with academics and clinicians with research and practical expertise in memory in child sexual abuse, including participants at the Royal Commission Criminal Justice Public Roundtable on Memory and the Law (see Appendix 1.2), the advice of anonymous peer reviewers of the draft report, and the oversight of Leigh Sanderson, Special Counsel to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. iii Table of contents Executive summary ................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1 Aims and objectives of the report ........................................................... 7 1.1 The memory of victims of child sexual abuse ............................................................ 7 1.2 Aims of the report ...................................................................................................... 9 1.3 Contemporary guidance on memory and the law ................................................... 11 1.4 Methodology ............................................................................................................ 13 Chapter 2 Misconceptions about memory ............................................................. 18 2.1 Misconceptions about the nature of human memory ............................................ 20 2.2 Misconceptions about delay and memory accuracy ............................................... 25 2.3 Misconceptions about the effects of trauma and emotion on memory ................. 28 2.4 Misconceptions about memory for recurring events .............................................. 29 2.5 Misconceptions about investigative interviewing ................................................... 30 Chapter 3 Overview of forensic memory research ................................................ 33 3.1 The research context ............................................................................................... 33 3.2 The dominance of eyewitness memory research .................................................... 34 3.3 Methods to study memory ...................................................................................... 37 3.4 Assessing the generalisability of the research ......................................................... 42 Chapter 4 The nature of human memory .............................................................. 46 4.1 General memory processes ..................................................................................... 46 4.2 Factors that preserve memory ................................................................................ 51 4.3 Autobiographical memory ....................................................................................... 53 4.4 Memory development and suggestibility ................................................................ 57 iv Chapter 5 Effects of delay on memory ................................................................... 63 5.1 Delay between the time of abuse and reporting..................................................... 64 5.2 Delay between abuse and the investigative interview ............................................ 65 5.3 Delay between investigative interview and trial ..................................................... 68 5.4 The effects of delay on adult memories .................................................................. 71 5.5 Historical cases of child sexual abuse ...................................................................... 72 5.6 False memories of child sexual abuse ..................................................................... 75 Chapter 6 Effects of emotion and trauma on memory ......................................... 78 6.1 Types of trauma ....................................................................................................... 79 6.2 Individual differences and trauma ........................................................................... 81 6.3 Effects of trauma on non-abuse memories ............................................................. 83 6.4 Effects of trauma on encoding of child sexual abuse memories ............................. 88 6.5 Effects of trauma on retention of child sexual abuse memories ............................ 90 6.6 Effects of trauma on retrieval of child sexual abuse memories .............................. 91 Chapter 7 Memory for recurring events ............................................................... 97 7.1 Memory for recurring events of abuse .................................................................... 97 7.2 Memory for details of a particular event in a series ............................................... 99 7.3 Memory for temporal location in recurring events ............................................... 104 7.4 Estimates of the frequency and duration of recurring events .............................. 107 7.5 Memory for the first and the most recent event in a series ................................. 108 Chapter 8 Eliciting memory reports .................................................................... 110 8.1 Best-practice features of interviews to enhance memory .................................... 111 8.2 Eliciting a full account of events ............................................................................ 115 8.3 Eliciting reliable information .................................................................................. 122 8.4 Accommodating individual differences ................................................................. 127 v 8.5 Interview training and operational implementation ............................................. 128 Chapter 9 Education on memory ........................................................................ 131 9.1 Guidance on memory and the law ......................................................................... 131 9.2 Education and training on memory ......................................................................
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