Reading for 10/3

After reading this week's reading I started thinking about people who go on the witness stand, and the importance of a statement. A couple years ago I was involved in a car accident myself, and my Mom had me write out a statement the minute I got home. This was so I wouldn't forge any detail. Luckily, I never had to testify, but the insurance company did take my statement. Had I been asked to recall the accident the way people in Shacter's experiment were, I would have forgotten the details. To this day I still remember what happened, but I'm sure if I recalled the story now I would surely forget something.
The same thing goes for a witness. They have to write out a statement as soon as the police call them in, and the lawyers get a copy of the statement. Now, these are written out to make sure the witness doesn't lie, but sometimes a witness can accidentally go off of their statement just because they forgot certain parts of the event. Court dates are usually a year or so later after the crime occurred. According to Shacter's findings this would make it very hard for the person to recall the details of the crime that had taken place. This is why it's of such high importance that a witness statement is taken so close to the event. Otherwise, nobody would be able to testify properly.