Two experiments investigated how mock jurors react to a case involving a repressed memory of child sexual assault. Subjects read a fictional civil trial (Experiment 1) or criminal trial (Experiment 2) summary involving the sexual assault of a 6-year-old female. The summary was presented in one of three conditions: (a) child condition: the alleged victim reported her memory of the assault in the same year that the assault occurred; (b) repressed condition: the alleged victim reported the assault 20 years later, after remembering it for the first time; or (c) no-repressed condition: the alleged victim reported the assault 20 years later, but the memory of the assault had been present for the 20 years. Although the testimony of the alleged victim was believed to some extent in all conditions, the alleged victim in the child condition was believed at the highest level, and this was associated with more decisions against the defendant. The results are discussed in terms of how delayed reporting of child sexual assault crimes is associated with lower believability of the alleged victim. * We would like to thank Christy Kennedy, Paula Brinegar, and Elizabeth Thomas for their assistance in collecting and scoring the data, as well as Michael Nietzel, Monica Kern, Ronald Roesch, and three anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

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A survey of 613 undergraduates investigated beliefs about and experience with repressed memories. The results indicated that participants (a) had some degree of belief in repressed memories; (b) felt that therapy sometimes leads to false memories being implanted; (c) felt, to some degree, that repressed memory evidence should be allowed in court; and (d) had experience with repressed memories, either personally or through media coverage. Also, the gender of the participants affected many of the ratings (e.g., women had greater belief in and more personal experience with such memories than men). The implications of these results for professionals and laypeople are discussed.

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