NCJ Number
90412
Journal
Criminal Law Bulletin Volume: 19 Issue: 4 Dated: (July-August 1983) Pages: 293-324
Date Published
1983
Length
32 pages
Annotation
The admissibility of hypnotically induced or influenced testimony is an increasingly urgent issue for the courts. As the author of this article points out, there are three different lines of cases dealing with this problem.
Abstract
Many courts allow such testimony to go to the jury because they find that hypnosis is a credibility problem, not one of admissibility. Other courts will allow hypnotically induced testimony, but only if detailed procedural safeguards are followed. Another group of courts, including the influential California tribunal, exclude the testimony per se. This article examines each of these views, but it concentrates on California. Lawyers and researchers need to go further than this extensively researched article on the question of hypnosis and the admissibility of witness testimony. (Publisher abstract)