The dimension of witness testimony has in recent years evolved. Consequentially, it has changed the way that modern societies embrace the idea of the concept of eyewitnesses. Many atrocities have utilized eye witness testimony to make their case. In the case of holocaust survivors, the narrations about their experiences have become very important in regards to how to the world condemned the crimes. As such, the concept has become a part of the modern criminal justice system because of how it helps to articulate facts about a crime such the holocaust. In more precise terms, the holocaust survivors not only helped to convict individuals guilty of various atrocities against Jews but also contributed towards understanding the extent of the crimes committed against them.
The actual accounts of the individuals experienced the holocausts will form part of the discussions for this paper in the context of eye witness testimonies. Multiple law enforcement agencies involved in the have hugely benefitted from the testimonies of living survivors of the holocaust. In retrospect, the testimonies of eyewitnesses have played an essential role in the way that the whole process of prosecuting guilty parties that directly and indirectly helped to make the holocaust a reality. However, the police have, over the years, asserted that the testimonies of eyewitnesses are very unreliable because of inconsistencies in their memory about the actual events of the crime(Loftus, 2019). Mainly, their argument is based on the fact that the majority of people suffer from post-traumatic stress due to the experiences of a crime committed. The aspect of exaggeration also accounts for the scepticism of the perceptual views of police officers towards eye witness testimonies. More so, multiple research findings avow that witnesses to a crime lack the capacity to remember particular details of the crime correctly. However, in the article published in the New York Time proves that indeed the human mind is capable of correctly remembering the specific details of a crime, especially when the parties were a part of the targeted victims. Most of the holocaust survivors were not just targets of the crime but victims. As a result, the exposure to the terrible experiences harnessed their memory capacity towards remembering the particular details of the crimes perpetrated against them. It was not just a war against a people but also a crime committed against their faith, beliefs and values. Therefore, it is accurate to hypothesize that indeed, the human mind is not capable of forgetting the details of horrific events that have happened in their lives.
While the mind may forget the particular details of the good things in their lives, scientists have proven that despite the psychological trauma associated with crimes against humanity, the mind is very capable of remembering particular sequences of events. In more precise terms, when a person experiences very uncomfortable events in their life, the brain can create memory snapshots about the specific details of the crime(Dahl et al., 2018). For example, the experiences in the concentration camps during the holocaust are an unforgettable experience for many people. Elie Wiesel, the author of the article, develops a strong connection to the story the particular events that unfolded during his time at the concentration camps despite these experience having happened a very long time before. To this end, the horrific experiences of the whole ordeal are not just unforgettable but more importantly, they become a part of the person; who they are and what they represent. As such, the assumptions that the human mind cannot be relied upon as a reliable source of testimony is inaccurate. Eyewitnesses have the capacity to not just remember about the details of the crime but more importantly, the particular individuals who perpetrated the cri9mes against them. So, while psychological evidence may pose a myriad of issues on the reliability of the human mind as a source of testimonies in a judicial process, it accurate to hypothesize that the accuracy of the details is mainly dependent of the extent of the crime. For eyewitnesses who have a personal connection the crime or are a part of the victims that were affected by crime, it is impossible to forget the details of the crime. Therefore, it important that eye witness testimonies continue to form a significant part of the whole justice system. Eliminating the concept of eyewitnesses may be very detrimental to the way that individuals affected by a particular crime receive justice. For example, the individuals who suffered the atrocities of the holocaust cannot live their normal lives knowing that their testimony does not play a significant role in the judicial processes against those individuals who perpetrated the crimes against them. Going by the narrations of Elie Wiesel as narrated in the article, it accurate to hypothesize that in fact, the human memory even in the face of huge atrocities; it is very capable of remembering the specific details of the things that happened at the time. The article, “Night” is a testimony of why the eyewitnesses dimension is an essential part of the life of an individual. More so, it proves the essence of the human testimony in judicial processes. Different accounts of the individuals who experienced the atrocities against Jews at the time of the holocaust correlate thus showing it is not just a reliable source of evidence against criminal activity, but it is also a paradigm that helps to recreat6e the particular details of a crime. Arguably, the way that these individuals recall the specific incidences during their time at the concentration camps tells a story of just how reliable the human memory is especially for those experiences that were not recorded. In retrospect, the paradigm of eyewitnesses is a core pillar of the criminal justice system because it provides an account of the particular details about the crime including how it occurred and the specific issues that led to its emergence.
The victims of a crime find justice not just through the punishments of those who committed the crimes but also by knowing that they had a part in the process that led to the punishment. To this end, Elie Wiesel is not just a victim of the holocaust but also a survivor who gains closure by narrating to the world the particular details of the crime. The trauma of these experiences is beyond the understanding of the ordinary mind, but that does mean that it makes memory incapable. Witnessing crime only exposes one to a significant amount of stress at the time but does affect how the human cognition operates. Unless at the time of a crime, an individual is stressed or under duress, the testimony that they provide is usually accurate. However, if they have any actual mental condition, then it is not plausible to use their testimony as a reliable source of information regarding the details of the crime. Thus, as multiple theorists avow, the spectrum of the reliability of the human testimony should be accurately utilized to help in finding justice crimes. At all times, the human mind retains the memory of the details of the specific events that they witness unless some form condition affects their memory(Huggs, 1878). However, if there are no actual medical conditions that affect the way that they remember the events or have no motive to alter the details of the crime, the dimensions of eye witness testimony must become a part of how the whole justice system seeks to prosecute guilty parties.
To conclude, eye witness’s testimonies are not just a part of the whole justice system but also help towards achieving justice for victims. Thus, despite the perceptual views indicating the unreliability of the concept in the judicial process, it is accurate to theorize that indeed, the human memory can be a very reliable source of evidence. Notably, the traumatic arguments that predispose that the human mind is unreliable because most of the individuals who witness a crime suffer from memory lapses or biased recall are not very accurate. Elie Wilson’s article proves that even when faced with very traumatic experiences, some memories are unforgettable, especially those that are associated with discomfort and suffering for the victims.