NCJ Number
81018
Journal
Criminal Law Bulletin Volume: 18 Issue: 1 Dated: (January/February 1982) Pages: 5-37
Date Published
1982
Length
33 pages
Annotation
When hypnosis is used to gather evidence as was done in the Chouchilla kidnapping case by obtaining a license plate number - the authors of this article do not believe that the same level of difficulty exists as when hypnosis is used as a pretrial identification procedure and culminates in trial testimony. Does the right to counsel attach at a pretrial hypnosis session? Does the session more nearly resemble a photographic array or a show-up/line-up procedure? What difference should it make? This article discusses these issues and examines such problems as the inherent suggestiveness of pretrial hypnosis, the role of counsel at pretrial hypnosis sessions, and the eventual admissibility of hypnotically induced testimony. While the authors favor a per se exclusionary rule, they offer arguments to counter evidence they view with a jaundiced eye.
Abstract
With the emergency of hypnosis as a device to aid in evidence and testimony gathering, an array of complex legal questions arises. (Publisher abstract)