Criminal Psychology by Hans Gross (best book recommendations .TXT) 📕

The psychology of the judge enters into the consideration as influentially as the psychology of the offender. The many-sidedness of the problems thus unified in a common application is worthy of emphasis. There is the problem of evidence: the ability of a witness to observe and recount an incident, and the distortions to which such report is liable through errors of sense, confusion of inference with observation, weakness of judgment, prepossession, emotional interest, excitement, or an abnormal mental condition.

It is the author’s view that the judge should understand these relations not merely in their narrower practical bearings, but in their larger and more theoretical aspects which the study of psychology as a comprehensive science sets forth. There is the allied problem of testimony and belief, which concerns the peculiarly judicial qualities. To ease the step from ideas to their expression, to estimate motive and intention, to know and appraise at their proper value the logical weaknesses and personal foibles of all kinds and conditions of offenders and witnesses,—to do this in accord with high standards, requires that men as well as evidence shall be judged. Allied to this problem which appeals to a large range of psychological doctrine, there is yet another which appeals to a yet larger and more intricate range,—that of human character and condition. Crimes are such complex issues as to demand the systematic diagnosis of the criminal. Heredity and environment, associations and standards, initiative and suggestibility, may all be condoning as well as aggravating factors of what becomes a <p xi>

“case.” The peculiar temptations of distinctive periods of life, the perplexing intrusion of subtle abnormalities, particularly when of a sexual type, have brought it about that the psychologist has extended his laboratory procedures to include the study of such deviation; and thus a common set of findings have an equally pertinent though a different interest for the theoretical student of relations and the practitioner. There are, as well, certain special psychological conditions that may color and quite transform the interpretation of a situation or a bit of testimony. To distinguish between hysterical deception and lying, between a superstitious believer in the reality of an experience and the victim of an actual hallucination, to detect whether a condition of emotional excitement or despair is a cause or an effect, is no less a psychological problem than the more popularly discussed question of compelling confession of guilt by the analysis of laboratory reactions. It may well be that judges and lawyers and men of science will continue to differ in their estimate of the aid which may come to the practical pursuits from a knowledge of the relations as the psychologist presents them in a non-technical, but yet systematic analysis. Professor Gross believes thoroughly in its importance; and those who read his book will arrive at a clearer view of the methods and issues that give character to this notable chapter in applied psychology.

The author of the volume is a distinguished representative of the modern scientific study of criminology, or “criminalistic” as he prefers to call it. He was born December 26th, 1847, in Graz (Steiermark), Austria, pursued his university studies at Vienna and Graz, and qualified for the law in 1869. He served as “Untersuchungsrichter”

(examining magistrate) and in other capacities, and received his first academic appointment as professor of criminal law at the University of Czernowitz. He was later attached to the German University at Prague, and is now professor in the University of Graz. He is the author of a considerable range of volumes bearing on the administration of criminal law and upon the theoretical foundations of the science of criminology. In 1898 he issued his “Handbuch fur Untersuchungsrichter, als System der Kriminalistik,”

a work that reached its fifth edition in 1908, and has been translated into eight foreign languages. From 1898 on he has been the editor of the “Archiv f<u:>r Kriminalanthropologie und Kriminalistik,”

of which about twenty volumes have appeared. He is a frequent contributor to this journal, which is an admirable representative of an efficient technical aid to the dissemination of interest <p xii>

in an important and difficult field. It is also worthy of mention that at the University of Graz he has established a Museum of Criminology, and that his son, Otto Gross, is well known as a specialist in nervous and mental disorders and as a contributor to the psychological aspects of his specialty. The volume here presented was issued in 1897; the translation is from the second and enlarged edition of 1905. The volume may be accepted as an authoritative exposition of a leader in his “Fach,” and is the more acceptable for purposes of translation, in that the wide interests of the writer and his sympathetic handling of his material impart an unusually readable quality to his pages.

JOSEPH JASTROW.

MADISON, WISCONSIN,

DECEMBER, 1910.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.

THE present work was the first really objective Criminal Psychology which dealt with the mental states of judges, experts, jury, witnesses, etc., as well as with the mental states of criminals. And a study of the former is just as needful as a study of the latter. The need has fortunately since been recognized and several studies of special topics treated in this book—e. g. depositions of witnesses, perception, the pathoformic lie, superstition, probability, sensory illusions, inference, sexual differences, etc.—have become the subjects of a considerable literature, referred to in our second edition.

I agreed with much pleasure to the proposition of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology to have the book translated.

I am proud of the opportunity to address Americans and Englishmen in their language. We of the German countries recognize the intellectual achievements of America and are well aware how much Americans can teach us.

I can only hope that the translation will justify itself by its usefulness to the legal profession.

HANS GROSS.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE.

THE present version of Gross’s Kriminal Psychologie differs from the original in the fact that many references not of general psychological or criminological interest or not readily accessible to English readers have been eliminated, and in some instances more accessible ones have been inserted. Prof. Gross’s erudition is so stupendous that it reaches far out into texts where no ordinary reader would be able or willing to follow him, and the book suffers no loss from the excision. In other places it was necessary to omit or to condense passages. Wherever this is done attention is called to it in the notes. The chief omission is a portion of the section on dialects.

Otherwise the translation is practically literal. Additional bibliography of psychological and criminological works likely to be generally helpful has been appended.

{NOTE: the TOC below is raw OCR and needs fixed}

CONTENTS.

PAGE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE MODERN CRIMINAL SCIENCE

SERIES … … … … . V

INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH VERSION … . . ix AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION … . xiii TRANSLATOR’S NOTE … … … . . xiv INTRODUCTION … … … … . 1

PART I. THE SUBJECTIVE CONDITIONS OF EVIDENCE

(THE MENTAL ACTIVITIES OF THE JUDGE) . . 7

TITLE A. CONDITIONS OF TAKING EVIDENCE … 7

Topic 1. METHOD … … … . 7

<SE> 1 (a) General Considerations … … . 7

<SE> 2 (b) The Method of Natural Science … . . 9

Topic 2. PSYCHOLOGIC LESSONS … . . 14

<SE> 3 (a) General Considerations … … . 14

<SE> 4 (b) Integrity of Witnesses … … . 16

<SE> 5 (c) Correctness of Testimony … … . 18

<SE> 6 (d) Presuppositions of Evidence-Taking … . 20

<SE> 7 (e) Egoism … … … . 25

<SE> 8 (J) Secrets … … … . . 28

<SE> 9 (9) Interest … … … . . 37

Topic 3. PHENOMENOLOGY: The Outward Expression of Mental States … … … . 41

<SE> 10 … … … … . 41

<SE> 11 (a) General External Conditions … … 42

<SE> 12 (b) General Signs of Character … … 53

<SE> 13 (c) Particular Character-signs … … 61

(d) Somatic Character-Units … … 69

<SE> 14 (1) General Considerations … . . 69

<SE> 15 (2) Causes of Irritation … … 71

<SE> 16 (3) Cruelty … … . . 76

<SE> 17 (4) Nostalgia … … . . 77

<SE> 18 (5) Reflex Movements … … 78

<SE> 19 (6) Dress … … … 82

<p xviii>

PAGE

<SE> 20 (7) Physiognomy and Related Subjects . . 83

<SE> 21 (8) The Hand … … . . 100

TITLE B. THE CONDITIONS FOB DEFINING THEORIES . 105

Topic I. THE MAKING OF INFERENCES … 105

<SE> 22 … … … … . 105

<SE> 23 (a) Proof … … … . . 106

<SE> 24 (b) Causation … … … . 117

<SE> 25 (c) Scepticism … … … . 129

<SE> 26 (d) The Empirical Method in the Study of Cases . . 136

<SE> 27 (e) Analogy … … … . 144

<SE> 28 (f) Probability… … … . 147

<SE> 29 (9) Chance … … … 159

<SE> 30 (h) Persuasion and Explanation … … 161

<SE> 31 (i) Inference and Judgment … … . 165

<SE> 32 O Mistaken Inferences . .… … . 176

<SE> 33 (k) Statistics of the Moral Situation … . . 179

Topic 2. KNOWLEDGE … … … 183

<SE> 34 … … … … . 183

PART II. OBJECTIVE CONDITIONS OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

(THE MENTAL ACTIVITY OF THE EXAMINEE) . . 187

TITLE A. GENERA1: CONDITIONS … … . 187

Topic I. OF SENSE PERCEPTION … . . 187

<SE>35 … … … … . 187

36 (a) GeneralConsiderations … … . 187

(b) The Sense of Sight … … . . 196

<SE> 37 (1) General Considerations … . . 196

<SE> 38 (2) Color-vision … … . 204

<SE> 39 (3) The Blind Spot … … . 207

<SE> 40 (e) The Sense of Hearing … … . 208

<SE> 41 (d) The Sense of Taste … … . . 212

<SE> 42 (e) The Sense of Smell … … . . 213

<SE> 43 (f) The Sense of Touch … … . . 215

Topic a. PERCEPTION AND CONCEPTION … 221

<SE> 44 … … … … 221

Topic 3. IMAGINATION … … . . 232

<SE> 45 … … … … . 232

Topic 4. INTELLECTUAL PROCESSES … . 238

<SE> 46 (a) General Considerations … … . 238

<SE> 47 (b) The Mechanism of Thinking … … 243

<SE> 48 (c) The Subconscious … … . . 215

~ 49 (d) Subjective Conditions … … . 248

CONTENTS xix

PAGE

Topic 5. THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS . .. 254

<SE> 50 … … … …. 254

Topic 6. RECOLLECTION AND MEMORY . .. 258

51 … … … … . 258

<SE> 52 (a) The Essence of Memory … … . 259

53 (b) The Forms of Reproduction … … 263

~ 54 (c) The Peculiarities of Reproduction … . . 268

<SE> 55 (d) Illusions of Memory … … . 275

<SE> 56 (e) Mnemotechnique … … . . 279

Topic 7. THE WILL … … … 281

<SE> 57 … … … … . 281

Topic 8. EMOTION… … … . 283

~ 58 … … … … . 288

Topic 9. THE FORMS OF GIVING TESTIMONY . . 287

<SE> 59 … … . . 287