adults more prone to spontaneous false memories than children are. However, children are still more vulnerable to externally induced false memories, like those that stem from leading questions or learning new information after the event.
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development provides one evidence-based protocol investigators can follow when working with young witnesses.
The author wrote a book about this subject in 2022:
Eyewitness testimony isn’t that accurate at all is it? The mind is frighteningly good at fucking up our own memories…
Eyewitness testimony isn’t necessarily inaccurate, but as evidence goes, it’s the worst kind.
It’s more accurate than no eye witness at all, which when making a decision based on 0 evidence is also roughly 0% accurate. At least eye witness is at like 60% iirc.
Considering that roughly 75% of wrongful convictions were based on faulty eyewitness testimony, it’s worse than no testimony.