Descripción del proyecto
Estudio de las variables dependientes de la cultura en la memoria de testigos oculares
Vivir en una sociedad globalizada implica que los testigos oculares de delitos graves deben testificar en espacios interculturales. ¿Qué ocurre cuando los investigadores de la policía entrevistan a testigos oculares con un bagaje cultural diferente? ¿Cómo codifican, almacenan y recuperan recuerdos los distintos grupos culturales, y cómo se evalúan los informes memorísticos en contextos de inmigración? ¿Qué puede decirse de la frecuencia, la naturaleza y las consecuencias jurídicas de las variables dependientes de la cultura en los casos penales internacionales? El proyecto WEIRD WITNESSES, financiado con fondos europeos, aspira a responder estas preguntas, desarrollar una teoría culturalmente modulada de la memoria de los testigos oculares y diseñar y probar directrices basadas en evidencias para entrevistas. Para lograr estos objetivos, el proyecto pretende integrar análisis de datos experimentales, de vídeos y de documentos.
Objetivo
Our increasingly international society demands that eyewitnesses of serious crimes regularly provide testimony in cross-cultural settings, such as international criminal tribunals. This poses significant challenges for investigators and legal decision-makers. Errors in fact-finding may result in wrongful convictions and unjust acquittals. Yet, eyewitness memory research has predominantly focused on Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) witnesses.
The project addresses two key objectives: (1) develop culturally modulated theory of eyewitness memory and (2) design and test evidence-based interview guidelines.
In Subproject 1, I will examine what happens when police investigators interview eyewitnesses from a different cultural background. It will involve the systematic coding of culture-dependent variables in video-recorded police interviews with witnesses of serious crimes in South Africa, a society with many different subcultures.
In Subproject 2, I will analyse the frequency, nature and legal consequences of culture-dependent variables in international criminal cases. It will involve an empirical document analysis of eyewitness evidence provided at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and interviews with international legal scholars and practitioners.
In Subproject 3, I will assess how different cultural groups encode, store and retrieve memories, and how memory reports are evaluated in immigration contexts. It will involve a series of experiments in which the objective and perceived characteristics of statements provided by asylum seekers originating from Sub-Saharan Africa are compared to a matched Western control group.
The project integrates analyses of video, document and experimental data to provide insight into culture-dependent variables in eyewitness memory. The new theory will enable researchers and practitioners to steer away from the present WEIRD bias in legal psychology.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitución de acogida
1081 HV Amsterdam
Países Bajos