Witness Memory and the Manufacture of Evidence at the International Criminal Tribunals

Abstract

Memory verisimilitude, or at least memory reliability, becomes problematic after a few hours or days. Yet a witness before an international criminal tribunal has had to wait an average of ten years to testify. And it is not just deterioration of memory that happens during this waiting period. The paper summarizes the methods by which shortcomings in witness memory are dealt with at the international criminal tribunals and suggests that international fact-finding is radically deficient. This enterprise built on the quicksand of witness memory and sustained by judicial fixes is conducive to false convictions.

Keywords: Witness memory, evidence, fact-finding, psychology, international criminal law, international criminal justice, ICTY, ICTR