How rape affects memory and the brain, and why more police need to know about this
Click to enlarge the image. Caption: Marissa Espiritu/CapRadio Marissa Espiritu/CapRadio
Annie Walker woke up in 2019 without any recollection of what had happened the night before. She had bruises all over her legs, arms, wrist, and lower abdomen.
She says, "But I literally didn't know what had happened." "And for days, I tried to put the pieces together."
She was aware that she went to a Sacramento restaurant and bar with a group of people. She also remembers drinking there, but she didn't know she was alone with the man she would later identify as her rapist. She didn't know much else.
She was still unable to recall the first morning, but memories began to emerge over the next few days and weeks, details like what the man was wearing and how he shoved her against a bar. One week later, she reported the crime to Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.
In the days that followed, she had another flood of memories. She recalled vividly that the man had raped and had a weapon.
She says, "I knew there was a gun at mine neck, at my back." It was obvious.
Walker's case was assigned to Sacramento detectives, who didn't seem to be able to grasp why Walker couldn't recall all details.
"I just remember saying, "I don't understand, I don’t know, but I don’t know!" Walker says.
She says that detectives gave her trouble when she called to report that her attacker had a firearm.
"I felt like I was being cross-examined on phone. I felt like you were being cross-examined on the phone. This is, like, an extremely important thing.
Click to enlarge the image. Caption: Marissa Espiritu/CapRadio Marissa Espiritu/CapRadio
Victims of sexual assault say that interactions with law enforcement can be so intense and unsupportive that they can add another trauma to the rape. It can be difficult to report a rape to police if officers question victims' accounts or don't remember the details.
According to criminal justice scholars and scientists, it doesn't need to be this way. Police can improve their approach to rape cases by understanding the brain's function during and after a rape and avoid making victims feel disbelieved or blamed.
Researchers who study memory and trauma say that it is common for survivors of sexual assault as well as those from other serious traumas, to not be able to recall the details of an attack. Some may be able to recall certain facts, while others might not. Others may struggle to remember the right sequence of events.
These recall issues can occur after serious trauma and can make it difficult to investigate a rape. Survivors should report them to the police. According to advocates for victims of sexual-assault, researchers and advocates, law enforcement officers who aren't trained to deal with trauma's neuroscience can dismiss or disbelieve victims suffering memory gaps.
Jim Hopper, a Harvard University psychologist, says that investigators asking for information from people can pose a danger. They can stress the victim and leave them feeling confused, incompetent and not wanting to engage further with the investigation.
Walker's alleged attacker was never arrested. She is still upset by the pressure she felt from detectives to recall details during the investigation.
She says, "I couldn’t explain why my memory couldn’t recall things that had occurred or why they were coming to me in the way they did."
When the brain switches to survival mode
The brain activates its "fight-flight or freeze" response when faced with a crisis. Jim Hopper, a Harvard psychologist, explained that in these situations, the brain's defense circuitry takes control. The brain's "defense circuitry", which is responsible to making logical decisions, no longer controls the prefrontal cortex. Instead, the brain's areas responsible for scanning for danger are in charge.
Hopper states, "And that's where people are running on" in times of trauma.
Some people will respond to this state by mentally "dissociating" or disconnecting with their physical selves.
Hopper states that people may feel like they are floating or as if they were in a movie or dream. Walker claims she experienced an "out of body experience" while being attacked.
She says, "I felt paralyzed." "I couldn’t feel my limbs."
Hopper states that this survival response can affect the ability to absorb and process what is happening around them.
Two types of details are described in memory and recall studies during trauma events: peripheral and central. The central details capture our attention and elicit emotions at the time, such as the location of the attack. Peripheral details include information that a survivor may not have paid attention to during a crisis, such as what the perpetrator said or whether others were present. Peripheral details are more reliable and last longer than central details.
Sometimes, survivors may not be able to answer a simple question. This is especially true if the question involves a small detail such as the color of an attacker's shirt. Hopper also says this can lead to suspicion in officers.
Click to enlarge the image. Caption: Marissa Espiritu/CapRadio Marissa Espiritu/CapRadio
Hopper, who is a legal witness in cases of sexual assault, claims victims are subject to unfair standards, even when compared to other survivors.
He says that defense attorneys attack victims of sexual assault every day in courtrooms across the country and question their credibility for not having the same type of memory as soldiers for their combat experience. "We wouldn't question the credibility of a soldier based on their ability to remember which mortar blew off their friend's leg and which one did that to his arm.
Victim advocates and criminal justice experts agree that this tendency to doubt victims is why so few cases of sexual assault end in convictions.
However, there are Law enforcement officers who understand the science. It's crucial for detectives that they are open to any information a survivor may say, even if it is not included in the initial report. This can help solve the crime.
Nicole Monroe, Elk Grove police detective, is one officer who understands the science. She claims that she has received additional training in the science and that it has changed how she approaches sexual assault cases.
Monroe assures victims that Monroe works with people so that more memories will surface over the coming days, weeks, and months.
"Smells will return. Sights will return. Monroe said, "Because small things like these are going to make all the difference."
Police can now interview survivors of sexual assault in a new way
Law enforcement officers have been trained for interrogations that can involve drawing out details in chronological order.
"The expectation is that someone will come in, sit down and be ready to speak, they're supposed know what they want to talk about," Carrie Hull, a former detective at the Ashland Police Department, in southern Oregon, says. "They will tell you everything that happened to them, from the beginning to the middle and the end. This is a very traditional understanding.
Hull is now a consultant to police departments. She advocates for Forensic Explosive Trauma Interviewing (or FETI) as a method of interviewing victims of trauma. This training will help police officers and others who interview victims of trauma to ask different questions. It also helps them be more compassionate, patient, and gain a better understanding of the brain's memory and recall processes. Although online training is possible, it is not required for most police departments.
Hull's course teaches people how to help someone recover a memory they may not have had when they first entered the interview room. Hull states that FETI discourages the use of counterproductive techniques such as paraphrasing, changing victim's words, interrupting, or giving advice.
This is far from the stereotypical television interview with a police officer. Hull states that the goal of trauma interviewing should be to "collect the dots and then connect them." This means that you simply need to interview the victim about what has happened. You can also wait for more aggressive and sharper investigative techniques.
Hull claims that FETI assists police officers in becoming more aware of their assumptions and their role in setting the mood for productive conversations with victims. "How can you get information from someone where you're not introducing biases?" She says. How do you recognize your biases? You must know the difference between investigation and interview. These are the core concepts we use to work.
This image can be enlarged Marissa Espiritu/CapRadio Marissa Espiritu/CapRadio
Research doesn't support the claim that this training helps law enforcement officers solve more cases of rape. Scholars and victim advocates say this is a good practice that can make working with police more pleasant for victims and help to bring more offenders to justice.
Dave Thomas, a program officer at the International Association of Chiefs of Police, says, "If I had to, all of them would do this." "And that's what we're trying instill in agencies. Officers who conduct in-depth victim interviews or suspect interrogations need to be trained on how to conduct trauma-informed interviews.
Annie Walker still struggles to recover from her assault. But it's more complicated as she is also still healing from the way that law enforcement treated her case. Both survivors and police officers need to be educated more about how trauma affects memory.
"I can only imagine that there are so many victims who truly believe they're crazy or that others don't know that. Walker replies, "I imagine there's so many victims that truly feel and believe they're crazy or if other people are like, 'How come you didn't remember that?'"
She believes that if survivors had a better understanding of what to expect with regard to memory issues, it would not be so frustrating. They need to feel normal about the way things are going in their head. They should feel normal.
This story is part of NPR's partnership with CapRadio (KHN) and Kaiser Health News, (CapRadio).
