Witness for the Defense: The Accused, the Eyewitness and the Expert Who Puts Memory on Trial

Rating:
Summary: Immaterial, irrelevant, and misleading
Review: (...) leave book buyers with the false impression that Loftus's book is a universally acknowledged authority. It is not. It is highly controversial and has been vigorously condemned. Memory experts, trauma treatment experts, other lawyers, and readers alike have identified three fundamental flaws that diminish this book's credibility. They are--
1. Failing to distinguish trauma memory from ordinary memory (different fields, different rules).
2. Applying ordinary-memory principles to trauma memory.
3. Failing to recognize and apply the principles of trauma memory.
As a result, the author's analysis is largely immaterial and irrelevant. I share the author's justified horror of convicting any person with tainted evidence. There are recognized means, however, of distinguishing externally imposed false memory from true trauma memory. It would have been useful to have a book on that subject.

Rating:
Summary: There Is No Photo Album In The Brain
Review: Many people think that we store our past visual experiences as intact images in the brain. Research, however, shows that this concept is not accurate. The visual recollection of an event has to be recreated by assembling bits and pieces of memory into a whole picture. Our recollection of events is thus often distorted. A variety of psychological experiments have been conducted that demonstrate this phenomenon. Subjects shown a picture of an office later, when asked to recall the photograph, put items such as bookcases or a calendar in the scene that were not actually there. Other aspects of the office are forgotten.

Elizabeth Loftus, an internationally known expert on memory, applies research and her experience to the topic of eye witness testimony in the legal setting. The book attempts to be both entertaining in its often informal presentation of case histories, and modestly academic in presenting psychological theory and research. The case histories for the most part describe trials in which eyewitness testimony resulted in the conviction of an innocent person. Loftus shows how inaccurate recollections combined with inappropriate police photo and lineup presentations can cause a witness to create false recollections. As a side note the book also shows how fallible juries can be. All in all this book provides further proof that eyewitness testimony is not superior to circumstantial evidence.

My only criticism of this book should probably be directed toward the co-author. This book is oriented toward the general public, and the case descriptions are often fluffed to create the "true crime" approach used by writers in that genre. What I found particularly amusing was that, in a book devoted to the topic of fallible memory, Ms Loftus recalls minute trivia that most of us would normally forget within a day. She relates, for example, that in one case she had just finished eating a breakfast of coffee and wheat toast. The coffee had just been put in front of her when the lawyer for the defendant walked into the restaurant. Beyond this attempt at verisimilitude we are presented with a memory of an extremely inconsequential event -the breakfast, and its delivery timing- ten years after the event.

This book is an important read. It demonstrates vividly the inaccuracies of memory, and it presents the subject in a format that would entertain most courtroom novel fans. Author Loftus has written a variety of books including a recent one -The Myth of Repressed Memory"- that debunks repressed memory. A classic of hers is "Eyewitness Testimony" that is oriented more toward psychological theory and research.

Rating:
Summary: For the lay reader
Review: This book is easy to read and gives the lay reader many illuminating insights into the work of this well known and respected forensic psychologist. Above all, we catch a glimpse the human side of Elizabeth Loftus, who works not only out of professional commitment to good science and judicial process, but is also moved by her compassion and empathy for persons accused.