Hypnosis in the courts

Abstract

As in many areas of science, those professionals who specialize in hypnosis, either as an academic subject or as a clinical procedure, are occasionally required to provide lawyers or the prosecuting authorities with the benefit of their specialized knowledge and expertise. In this chapter, I review the circumstances in which experts in hypnosis are asked to provide this service and I examine how current knowledge and understanding of hypnosis, and human psychology in general, informs this work. I am approaching this task as a clinical and a forensic psychologist working in the UK, who, since 1992, has regularly undertaken psychological assessments for legal purposes. Also, since 1977 I have used hypnosis in clinical practice, taught and written extensively on the subject, and supervised research projects in the field. Because of this dual specialization, I have been asked to provide expert assistance in a range of legal cases where hypnosis or a similar procedure has allegedly been involved. At the time of writing (2006) there have been 27 of these cases, all but one being in the UK. As a consequence, the material in this chapter will have a British bias. However, the principal focus of this chapter is understanding the nature of hypnosis from a rational, scientific perspective and how this can inform the answers to questions that lawyers and the police ask about hypnosis. I am hopeful therefore that readers who have never undertaken this kind of work, and who may have no intention of doing so, will find this chapter useful to their understanding of hypnosis. I am sure too that they will have their own opinions about the issues that are raised, and no doubt will not always agree with those expressed by the author. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)