2022年经济学人 目击者的证据比想象的更可靠

Science & Technology

科技版块

The psychology¹ of justice

公平的心理学

First impressions

第一印象

Eyewitness² evidence is more reliable than thought

目击者的证据比想象的更可靠

The “satanic panic” that swept through America in the 1980s and 1990s held that thousands of ordinary people up and down the country were secretly members of devil-worshipping cults³ which were abusing, raping⁴ and murdering children on an industrial scale.

20世纪80年代和90年代席卷美国的“撒旦恐慌”认为，全国上下数以千计的普通人是崇拜魔鬼邪教的秘密成员，这些邪教以工业规模虐待、强奸和谋杀儿童。

Alleged⁵ victims made detailed⁶ allegations, often after therapy designed to “recover” memories that had supposedly been buried in the aftermath of trauma⁷.

所谓的受害者往往在接受了旨在“恢复”创伤后被埋藏的记忆的治疗后，提出了详细的指控。

Many people went to prison.

很多人进了监狱。

None of it was true.

这一切都不是真的。

One after-effect of the panic was to cement in the minds of both the public and the justice system the idea that eyewitness testimony⁸ is unreliable.

恐慌的一个后遗症是：在公众和司法系统看来，目击者证词是不可靠的。

That fitted with experiments by psychologists such as Elizabeth Loftus, which demonstrated just how malleable⁹ memories can be.

这与伊丽莎白·洛夫图斯等心理学家的实验相吻合，这些实验证明了记忆可塑性的强大。

The Innocence¹⁰ Project, an American charity, examined 375 cases of wrongful conviction for all sorts of crimes, and found misidentification of suspects by witnesses was a factor in around 70% of them.

美国慈善机构“清白计划”审查了375起各种罪行的误判案件，发现其中70%的误判都是由于证人对嫌疑人的误认。

But at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement¹¹ of Science, John Wixted, a psychologist at the University of California, San Diego, argued that this institutional distrust has gone too far.

但在美国科学促进会的年度会议上，加州大学圣地亚哥分校的心理学家约翰·威克斯特表示，这种制度性不信任太过分了。

Eyewitness memories, he said, can in fact be very reliable—if they are tested in the right circumstances.

他说，如果在正确的环境下进行测试的话，目击者的记忆实际上可以非常可靠。

The key to reliability¹², said Dr Wixted, is the confidence of witnesses in their assessments¹³.

威克斯特博士说，可靠性的关键在于证人对其评估的信心。

Experiments suggest that when witnesses to a simulated crime are confident of having identified the suspect in a later photo line-up, they are almost always correct.

实验表明，模拟犯罪中，目击者确信在随后的照片中认出了嫌疑人时，他们几乎总是正确的。

Similarly, if they are sure the suspect is not present, that is likely to be right too.

同样，如果他们确定嫌疑人没有出现，这也很可能是正确的。

Only when a witness is unsure does a risk of misidentification arise.

只有当目击者不确定时，才会出现误认的风险。

A field study conducted in 2016 by Houston’s police came to similar conclusions.

休斯顿警方在2016年进行的一项实地研究也得出了类似的结论。

The problem is that this confidence is trustworthy only the first time the question is asked.

问题是，这种信心只有在第一次提问时才值得信任。

One of the unavoidable frustrations¹⁴ of quantum mechanics is that measuring a particle’s position or energy irretrievably alters it.

量子力学一个不可避免的问题是，测量粒子的位置或能量会不可逆转地改变它。

Something similar, said Dr Wixted, happens with memories.

威克斯特博士说，类似的情况也会发生在记忆中。

The very act of testing them contaminates every other test that comes after.

测试它们的行为本身就影响了随后进行的所有其他测试。

Assessing people’s faces for a possible match, for example, lodges¹⁵ them in a witness’s memory.

例如，通过评估人们的面孔来寻找可能的匹配，就能将他们保存在目击者的记忆中。

Once that has happened, anything from police encouragement to the high-pressure environment of a courtroom can twist subsequent attempts at recollection.

一旦这种情况发生，从警察的鼓励到法庭的高压环境，任何事情都可能扭曲随后的回忆尝试。

Dr Wixted drew a comparison with evidence such as dna¹⁶ samples.

威克斯特博士将其与DNA样本等证据进行了比较。

Improper¹⁷ handling can contaminate these.

处理不当可能会污染这些。

That does not mean dna tests are inherently unreliable, but it does mean the technology must be used carefully.

这并不意味着DNA测试本身不可靠，但它确实意味着这项技术必须谨慎使用。

The same, he says, is true of witnesses.

他说，目击者也是如此。

The answer, as he and Dr Loftus argue in a recently published paper, is to test a witness’s memory as fairly as possible, and—crucially—to do so only once.

正如他和洛夫特斯博士在最近发表的一篇论文中指出的那样，要尽可能公平地测试证人的记忆，而且至关重要的是，只测试一次。

Decades after the Satanic panic, the matter remains¹⁸ important.

在撒旦恐慌过去几十年后，这件事仍然很重要。

Dr Wixted cited the case of Charles Don Flores, a prisoner awaiting execution for a murder committed in 1998.

威克斯特博士引用了查尔斯·唐·弗洛雷斯的案例，他是一名因1998年犯下谋杀罪而等待处决的囚犯。

Initially¹⁹, when shown a line-up that included Mr Flores, a crucial witness said none of the people matched her recollection.

最初，当展示包括弗洛雷斯在内的名单时，一名关键证人表示，没有一个人与她的记忆相匹配。

(She had recalled a white man with long hair.

(她回忆起一个留着长发的白人男子。

Mr Flores is of Latin American extraction, and had short hair then.)

弗洛雷斯有拉美血统，当时留着短发。

By the time the case came to trial a year later, she had changed her mind, and Mr Flores was convicted.

一年后案件开庭审理时，她改变了主意，弗洛雷斯先生被判有罪。

His appeal on the basis of the witness’s change of mind has been denied.

他以证人改变主意为由提出的上诉已被驳回。

Dr Wixted, however, suggests she was likely to have been right the first time and wrong the second.

然而，威克斯特博士认为，她很可能第一次是对的，第二次是错的。

1 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

2 eyewitness   

n.目击者，见证人

参考例句：

• The police questioned several eyewitness to the murder.警察询问了谋杀案的几位目击者。
• He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。

3 cults   

n.迷信( cult的名词复数 )；狂热的崇拜；（有极端宗教信仰的）异教团体

参考例句：

• Religious cults and priesthoods are sectarian by nature. 宗教崇拜和僧侣界天然就有派性。 来自辞典例句
• All these religions were flourishing side by side with many less prominent cults. 所有这些宗教和许多次要的教派一起，共同繁荣。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

4 raping   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的现在分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• In response, Charles VI sent a punitive expedition to Brittany, raping and killing the populace. 作为报复，查理六世派军讨伐布列塔尼，奸淫杀戮平民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The conquerors marched on, burning, killing, raping and plundering as they went. 征服者所到之处烧杀奸掠，无所不做。 来自互联网

5 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

6 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

7 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

8 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

9 malleable   

adj.(金属)可锻的;有延展性的；(性格)可训练的

参考例句：

• Silver is the most malleable of all metals.银是延展性最好的金属。
• Scientists are finding that the adult human brain is far more malleable than they once thought.科学家发现成人大脑的可塑性远超过他们之前认识到的。

10 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

11 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

12 reliability   

n.可靠性，确实性

参考例句：

• We mustn't presume too much upon the reliability of such sources.我们不应过分指望这类消息来源的可靠性。
• I can assure you of the reliability of the information.我向你保证这消息可靠。

13 assessments   

n.评估( assessment的名词复数 )；评价；（应偿付金额的）估定；（为征税对财产所作的）估价

参考例句：

• He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明，约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评；而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句

14 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。

15 lodges   

v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属

参考例句：

• But I forget, if I ever heard, where he lodges in Liverpool. 可是我记不得有没有听他说过他在利物浦的住址。 来自辞典例句
• My friend lodges in my uncle's house. 我朋友寄居在我叔叔家。 来自辞典例句

16 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

17 improper   

adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的

参考例句：

• Short trousers are improper at a dance.舞会上穿短裤不成体统。
• Laughing and joking are improper at a funeral.葬礼时大笑和开玩笑是不合适的。

18 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

19 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。