Repressed Memory in Sandusky Case
In a former case, Jerry Sandusky, a college football coach, was said to have sexually abused children. He was found guilty of sexual abuse and sentenced to 30-60 years away. Though he without a doubt sexually abused many individuals, there was a part of the case that not many people are aware of. Some of these allegations were based on the idea of repressed memory that was uncovered after many years of therapy. Repressed memory is the idea of memories being unconsciously blocked due to stress or trauma while burying them in your thoughts. The memory may not be able to be uncovered for many years but can ostensibly be affecting them consciously. These memories that occur to the individual way later into their lives can also be false or imaginative. Memory works in three precesses; encoding, storage, and retrieval. Many times, when therapists try to come forth with repressed memory, they are trying to reconstruct your memory so that a specific memory is received. This part of the confessions were not known to the public when exposed. Instead, they focused more on the act itself, which is completely understandable but the process in which the stories were uncovered is fascinating.