Hypnosis In Criminal Investigation Essay

When most people think of a hypnotist, they may think of someone similar to a magician. Someone putting on an act for viewer’s entertainment. Hypnosis is used in many different ways other than just pure entertainment. Hypnosis is used in many professions, including criminal investigation. By Webster’s definition hypnosis is, “A trancelike state that resembles sleep but is induced by a person whose suggestions are readily accepted by the subject.” Research shows that hypnosis is the equivalent to breathing to a human. It is a trait that everyone carries.
The first “scientific” viewpoint for hypnosis was made by Franz Mesmer during the eighteenth century in Europe, around the time of the Enlightenment Era. Mesmer was the first to have the most consistent hypnotic method. He would link his subjects together by a rope, while he was dressed in a dark cloak, playing harmonic music in the
They concluded the following: 1) in free recall circumstances, subjects that are hypnotized give more accurate evidence than the control subjects. The difference overall though is not very much at all. 2) When leading questions are asked in structured recall circumstances, the control subjects give more accurate evidence than the hypnotized subjects. 3) During recognition circumstances, hypnotized subjects are not more likely to identify a person accurately in a line up for example, rather than the control subjects (Steblay and Bothwell 1994). Even though the controlled subjects are more accurate than the hypnotized subjects, the hypnotized subjects were much more confident in their decisions. Steblay and Bothwell said, “Hypnosis is not essentially a cause of wrong information; at worst it may be a cause of incorrect information given with such