NCJ Number
80707
Journal
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis Volume: 27 Issue: 4 Dated: special monograph issue (October 1979) Pages: 417-436
Date Published
1979
Length
20 pages
Annotation
The four principal stages in a criminal proceeding are discussed with a view toward determining the role that hypnosis can and does play in the American judicial system.
Abstract
In the preliminary investigative stage, hypnosis is primarily a technique for the discovery of evidence and its use is largely unfettered by court imposed restrictions. In the pre-trial stage, however, hypno-related testimony will be screened for abuses in obtaining it. At the trial stage, hypno-related testimony is generally admissible as a basis for expressing an opinion concerning mental condition, although no opinion may be expressed concerning the truthfulness of statements made under hypnosis. Where the testimony of a trial witness has been enhanced by the prior induction of hypnosis, the extent to which taint has occurred is usually a question for the jury to determine. In cases of flagrant suggestion during the induction process, however, such testimony will not be allowed in evidence. Learned societies in the field of hypnosis must bear the responsibility for educating the judiciary on the limits of hypnosis as an evidentiary technique. (Author abstract)