Alcohol intoxicated eyewitnesses' memory of intimate partner violence

Abstract

Alcohol affects memory in many, and mostly negative, ways. This is a problem in legal contexts as many witnesses are alcohol intoxicated when taking part of the critical event. However, research is sparse regarding how, and under what circumstances, the reports of alcohol intoxicated witnesses differ from those of sober witnesses. This study investigated whether alcohol intoxicated and sober eyewitnesses differ regarding completeness, accuracy, and type of information reported, as well as whether gender influenced these variables. Eighty-seven healthy men (n = 44) and women (n = 43) received either an alcoholic beverage (0.7 g/kg) or a control (juice) in a laboratory setting before viewing a film picturing intimate partner violence. Ten minutes after viewing the film, they were interviewed. Reports by alcohol intoxicated women were less complete, but as accurate, as sober women's. In contrast, intoxicated and sober men did not differ regarding completeness or accuracy. Furthermore, compared with sober women, intoxicated women reported fewer actions but no difference was found between the groups regarding reported objects. At this moderate dose, alcohol affected women's reports more than men's, which may be because alcohol affects attention and memory consolidation more clearly at a lower dose for women than for men.

Keywords:

• alcohol intoxication
• witness memory
• intimate partner violence
• interview
• quantity-accuracy trade-off

Funding

This work was supported by The Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority [grant number 03403/2009].

Notes

1. SOU (Statens offentliga utredningar. Official investigations of the state) are appointed by the Swedish government. The question posed by the government is investigated and the result analyzed and compiled by a group of selected experts.

2. Each statement was also ascribed to an actor (i.e., the man/woman/both). Hence, the actor-items were more common in reports than the rest of items. Since this could inflate the measure completeness, the actor-category was not included in the analysis of how alcohol affected the completeness of the category (Table 2). However, since a witness can mistake him-/herself regarding the person who, for example, conducted an act, said or wore something particular, the actor-category was included in the completeness measure when the accuracy rate was calculated (Table 1).

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by The Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority [grant number 03403/2009].