Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-09-05
PSYCHOLOGY AND COURTS
TOLD OF BY HASkIN
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2.-The
psychologist. with his uncaHty
KNOWLEDGE of human completes,
may soon be expected to play an
important part in u courts of JUS
tice.
In almost every trial there are
battling points IN the testimony
Was the witness telling the truth
when he said that he saw the 2ris-
oner at Z o'clock IN the evening OF
the crime. wearing a brown suit
and a green necktie? Could an
other witness be believed when ne
insisted hat the shot was fired ty
| the man directly in front of him and
not by any person back OF him?
Some problems like these are left
for almost every jury to face alter
the possibilities Of legal strategy
have been exhausted. Yet the jury
is expected to weigh all this e7l-
dence and arrive at a conclusion.
With a legal psychologist in court,
justice can be melted out with more
exactness, so the psychologists them
selves tell us. The witness who was
SO emphatic about the clothes worn
by the man he met might have his
| story shot to atoms by a psychologl-
| Cal GADldlldtlOh LAO SoAoho
bs distinguished at twilight. 1t is
a fact that the brain has no mechdn-
ism for distinguishing colors at
dusk. One and all, they are seen
as shades of gray.
As for the shot in front of The
witness, psychologists nave proved
that a shot fired directly behind a
person cannot be distinguished from
one fired directly in front. In such
circumstances an individual is not
capable of saying from which d.
rection the sound came.
These examples indicate the sort
of assistance that the psychologist
who specializes in legal and criminal
branches of his subject might pc
called upon to give to the courts al
present such experts are aware or
the service they can render, but the
legal profession is wary of what
might be regarded as new tangled
theories.
Bench and Bar Skepticai
Bench and bar are inclined to
look upon psychology as a science
still, in the experimental stages. AL
though a psychologist may have .
doctors degree from a nrSt CLASS
university and a string of discoveries
!, to his credit, he is likely to be tolc
o hat his methods and tests are no
vet 100 per cent reliable. n ina
, therefore his evidence cannot b'
accepted as expert testimony.
Psychologists are naturally some
what sad over this sign OF reaction
airy tendencies on the part OF TN
legal profession, but they are no
y discouraged. History is merely re
i. heating itself. They recall tha
Identification by finger prints wa
once regarded as bunk by the loo
proof detectives. 1t tool time u
| convince the world that an eXac
science could be based on the for
nation of skin at the finger tips.
IL will take time to prove to TN
,avman that each human mind /
not a law unto itself, but is con
structed and can be analysed ak
any other well ordered apparatus
Completes there are, nnumerap
and difficult to account for, put ~
psychologist now has back or mn
carefully tested principles mat en-
I able him to analyze his suoJec'
with reasonable exactness' ,
One hundred per cent accuracy
hardly TO be expected. Medicine ma
heen practiced thousands OF yeah
| the PSYCHOLOGIST points out, but ]
ia NOT an absolutely accurate science
' Doctors fatty contradict accepte'
, theories of ten years ago. What
more. they disagree with n another
Yet the testimony of a physician 0
an alienist Is gwen careful conslo
Grafton by the courts.
The use of expert advice OF val
GUS sorts in legal cases mas DE-
, growing steadily. When elvlllzat.o
moved at a slower pace ana court
had less crowded dockets, a tfla
, might drag along with less serlou
! consequences. Evidence might b
, gone over time and again until som
= slip was noted or until 1t was clea
that the jury would simply have I
. guess at the truth.
I But the trial and error metnoo {
presenting testimony has an
more given place to research mem
) DDS. The scientific detectives are tn
versatile authorities on all mamie
+. o. subjects that the story book ner
g always is. but they do know VIE
] and where to get expert oplnior
and the results are often astound
ing.
vi Value OF the Microscope
Hans Gross. the we'll know
r ~criminologist, has pointed out hoy
the microscope in the hands OF a
expert can reveal important fact