Criminal psychology : a manual for judges, practitioners, and students / by Hans Gross ; translated from the 4th German edition by Horace M. Kallen ; with an introduction by Joseph Jastrow.

  • Gross, Hans, 1847-1915.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Criminal psychology : a manual for judges, practitioners, and students / by Hans Gross ; translated from the 4th German edition by Horace M. Kallen ; with an introduction by Joseph Jastrow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    the doubt his expression indicates. When, however, the report of some bare fact is in question ( It rained, It was 9 o'clock, His beard was brown, or It was 8 o'clock,) it does not matter to the narrator, and if he imparts such facts with the introduction, I believe, then he was really uncertain. The matter becomes important only where the issue involves partly-concealed observa- tions, conclusions and judgments. In such cases another factor enters — conceit; what the witness asserts he is fairly certain of just because he asserts it, and all the I believes, Perhapses, and It seemeds, are merely insurance against all acci- dents. Generally statements are made without such reservations and, even if the matter is not long certain, with full assurance. What thus holds of the daily life, holds also, and more intensely, of court- witnesses, particularly in crucial matters. Anybody experienced in their conduct comes to be absolutely convinced that witneSiSg^s do not know what they know. A series of assertions are made with utter certainty. Yet when these are successively subjected to closer examinations, tested for their ground and source, only a very small portion can be retained unaltered. Of course, one may here overshoot the mark. It often happens, even in the routine of daily life, that a man may be made to feel shaky in his most absolute convictions, by means of an energetic attack and searching questions. Conscientious and sanguine people are particularly easy subjects of such doubts. Somebody narrates an event; questioning begins as to the indubitability of the fact, as to the exclusion of possible deception; the narrator becomes uncertain, he recalls that, because of a lively imagination, he has already believed himself to have seen things otherwise than they actually were, and finally he admits that the matter might probably have been different. During trials this is still more frequent. The circumstance of being in court of itself excites most people; the consciousness that one's statement is, or may be, of great significance increases the excitement; and the authoritative character of the official subdues very many people to conform their opinions to his. What wonder then, that however much a man may be convinced of the correctness of his evidence, he may yet fail in the face of the doubting judge to know anything certainly.'* Now one of the most difficult tasks of the criminalist is to hit, in just such cases, upon the truth; neither to accept the testimony blindly and uncritically; nor to render the witness, who otherwise