NCJ Number
77234
Journal
Sky Dated: (March 1981) Pages: 84-86,88
Date Published
1981
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses law enforcement officers' increased use of investigative hypnosis as a valid forensic tool, training institutions, and guidelines for the use of this technique.
Abstract
The article describes the use of medical hypnosis in the Chowchilla Calif., case of 1976 in which the driver of a bus and his passengers were buried alive for 16 hours. In that case, authorities called in a psychoanalyst to help the bus driver remember the numbers on the license plate of one of the vans used by the kidnappers. Today, agencies at the Federal, State, and local levels have trained personnel to aid victims and witnesses of crimes to recall details under memory-enhancing hypnosis. The article focuses on the activities of the Law Enforcement Hypnosis Institute of the Los Angeles Police Department (California) which has trained over 1,000 law enforcement specialists in its hypno-investigation techniques since 1976. Interviews are conducted with the institute's founder, Dr. Martin Reiser, head of the Los Angeles Police Department's behavioral science unit and with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent Richard L. Ault Jr. concerning cases in which additional information was obtained through hypnotism. The article also outlines guidelines governing the FBI's use of hypnosis and factors police officers should consider when establishing local hypnosis programs.