Role of Psychics in Criminal

Role of Psychics in Criminal Justice

An Analysis of the Modern Role of Psychics in Criminal Justice

Summary of Remaining Chapters

Chapter IV: Data Analysis

Discussion, Conclusions and Recommendations

Responses to "I believe that psychics have some special ability that other people do not possess"

Responses to "I have experienced episodes in my life where I thought could read other people's minds or could see the future"

Responses to "I believe psychics can help law enforcement authorities solve crimes"

Responses to "I believe that psychics have some special ability that other people do not possess"

Responses to "I have experienced episodes in my life where I thought could read other people's minds or could see the future"

Figure 3. Responses to "I believe psychics can help law enforcement authorities solve crimes"

Abstract

Throughout history, there have been instances of people claiming extraordinary powers that can help them foresee the future, divine the location of lost objects or otherwise ferret out the unknown when others cannot. The use of psychic individuals to assist in criminal justice investigations dates back more than 300 years to France, and the practice continues in some regions of the country today. Indeed, the fact that a belief in such powers endures into the 21st century suggests that there may in fact be something to these claims. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of the use of psychics in modern criminal justice proceedings. To this end, a critical review of the peer-reviewed and scholarly literature was accompanied by a custom survey to determine current beliefs concerning the practice today. A discussion of the results and conclusions are followed by a summary of the research and recommendations in the concluding chapter.

Preface

If there was not so much at stake, it would appear reasonable to accept the assistance of anyone that claimed to be in a position to help criminal justice authorities in their efforts to combat crime. Unfortunately, the research showed that the ends of justice are not served and are actually diminished when criminal justice authorities enlist the assistance of people claiming psychic abilities. Despite being debunked time and again over the years, many people today continue to believe in the ability of others - or themselves - to forecast the future, divine the location of missing objects or to identify a criminal when others cannot. This study examines the relevant issues and discusses them in terms of how they have affected criminal justice proceedings in the past with a view to developing timely recommendations for policymakers today.

An Analysis of the Modern Role of Psychics in Criminal Justice

Chapter I - Introduction

A.

Background of the Study. Today, crime dramas presented on television are frequently conceptualized as using an initial instance of violence to facilitate a discussion about the proper workings of the criminal justice system (Shimanovsky, 2006). Furthermore, in the United States, there exist.".. psychic television hotlines, psychics, gurus, tarot readers, newspaper astrologers, and a host of lesser beings from all races, nationalities, and religious persuasions" (Weyrauch, 2001, p. 37). Although the use of psychics by law enforcement authorities was first used in France over 300 years ago, the increasing popularity of the issue has assumed new relevance today with television programs such as "Psychic Detectives," and "Psychics" being watched by millions of Americans. The premise of the former is that psychics do in fact possess extraordinary "powers" that might be of use in modern criminal justice investigations, while the latter program emphasizes that intuition and careful observation play a more important role.

B.

Problem Statement. Because resources are by definition scarce, it is important for law enforcement agencies across the country to take advantage of any resource that can assist them in accomplishing their missions more efficiently. If psychics can in fact assist the criminal justice process in some legitimate fashion, then, it is important to recognize this and to take advantage of it if possible. Likewise, if the research shows that psychics are not a legitimate resource, law enforcement authorities would be well advised to steer clear of their assistance and to enforce the laws on the books against the practice in many states in the first place.

C.

Purpose and Objectives. The primary purpose of this study was to develop the background required to make an informed decision concerning the efficacy of the use of psychics by law enforcement authorities to help them solves crimes. A secondary objective of the study was to determine, based on the available empirical and peer-reviewed evidence, whether psychics can be regarded as a legitimate adjunct to the criminal justice system and in what capacity.

D.

Rationale. The popularity of television programming such as "Psychic Detectives," and the more tongue-in-cheek version, "Psychics," suggests that many Americans believe that some people do in fact have psychic abilities and that these extrasensory powers can be harnessed to good effect for law enforcement purposes.

E.

Definition of Terms. For the purposes of this study, the term "psychic" will use the following definitions. According to the Dictionary of Mysticism and the Occult, a psychic is someone who "possesses paranormal powers or extrasensory perception: precognition, clairvoyance, mental telepathy, ability to see and diagnose the aura [i.e., an invisible cloud of colored light that allegedly surrounds plants, animals, and humans]." Alternatively, the Encyclopedia of the Occult defines a psychic as "a sensitive, one susceptible to psychic influences.... anyone who is in any degree sensitive" (Spence, 1994, p. 330).

F.

Limitations. The study faced three fundamental limitations:

Issues such as psychic ability are much like religious convictions for some people; for those that believe in the ability of these individuals to divine and forecast, no amount of evidence to the contrary will likely be sufficient to convince them otherwise;

convenience sample was used for the survey of American adults with no attempt at randomization being made; and,

There were no members of the criminal justice system included in the survey.

G.

Theoretical Framework. The study is defined as exploratory in nature with the goal of answering the following hypotheses. According to Neuman (2003), exploratory research is a type of research that investigates "an area that has not been studied and in which a researcher wants to develop initial ideas and a more focused research question" (p. 535).

H.

Research Hypotheses. One case of proven cheating on the part of a particular psychic makes the potential for cheating more likely for any other claims involving that subject, in the absence of independent confirmation; furthermore, the large number of cases of psychics already having been caught cheating makes the cheating hypothesis one of the most likely explanations for their paranormal claims (Stenger, 1990). Likewise, as "the Amazing Randi," a professional magician with more than 30 years' of experience and - like Houdini before him - a well-known debunker of numerous alleged psychics, emphasizes that, when it comes to psychics, "It is more rational to suspect trickery than to adopt the preposterous alternative" (p. 3).

H1: Based on the foregoing, the guiding hypothesis for this study was that there would be no legitimate instances of the use of psychics by law enforcement authorities identified in the critical review of the relevant literature;

H2: A second hypothesis for this study was that even if such instances of the successful use of psychics in a criminal justice investigation were identified, they would have an equally rationale explanation and scientific basis for their success.

H3: A final hypothesis of the study was that if Hypotheses 1 and 2 were confirmed, it would seem unreasonable for law enforcement officials to waste their time and resources by consulting psychics, but that enough people - including members of the criminal justice system -- actually believe in psychic abilities that the practice might well continue in the future anyway.

Summary of Remaining Chapters. Chapter two provides a critical review of the peer-reviewed and scholarly literature on the issue of psychics in general and by law enforcement authorities in particular. Chapter three describes the research methodology used for the study, and chapter four provides an analysis of the survey data collected, as well as graphic and narrative interpretations. The concluding chapter discusses the study's finding, develops appropriate conclusions and provides a series of recommendations for law enforcement policymakers at all levels.

Chapter II - Literature Review.

A.

Background and Overview.

1. Historical Perspective. Christians have long maintained that the practice of any supernatural power is contrary to biblical teachings and that people who practice occult forms of divination, e.g., astrology, pyramidology, psychics, witchcraft, etc., are to be condemned (Ex. 22:18; Lev. 19:26, 19:31, 20:6, 27; Deut. 4:19, 18:9-12; 2 Ki. 21:6; Is. 44:25, 47:13-15, Jer. 10:2; Mic. 5:12; Gal. 5:20; Rev. 21:8) (Abanes, 1998). Not surprisingly, then, in the past, many psychics have found themselves at odds with law enforcement authorities, rather than being regarded as a potential ally in their fight against crime. For instance, in the case of Spiritual Psychic Science Church of Truth v. Azusa, 703 P.2d 1119 (Cal. 1985) held that municipal ordinance prohibiting fortune-telling and any related activity were in violation of Cal. Const. art. I, 2; while arrests for fortune-telling are now less frequent in California than before Azusa, they still occur. For example, in San Diego, four women belonging to the same Gypsy family were recently charged with theft by false pretense; as a precondition of being offered bail, these psychics were prohibited from engaging in fortune-telling or from being in locations of psychic activities (Weyrauch, 2001).

Certainly, there has been much skepticism concerning the reality of paranormal powers since antiquity. A number of "natural philosophers," people that would eventually be known as scientists when more organized systems of thought came into existence, disproved such claims several centuries ago (Randi, 1982). For example, in 1692, a French dowsing practitioner by the name of Jacques Aymar was hired by municipal authorities to discover a murderer by swinging a pendulum. According to Randi, "Apparently, it was believed that guilt was detectable by this means. Aymar is said to have led the officials to a nineteen-year-old hunchback who subsequently was 'broken on the wheel' -- a particularly unpleasant death much favored as punishment for unpopular people like hunchbacks" (Randi, 1982, p. 3). Whether Aymar's success in his practice can be attributed to the same tendency of police officials today to supply a list of suspects and then credit the "psychic" with the identification of the murderer remains unclear; however, Randi adds that, "But we do know that when Jacques Aymar submitted to tests administered in Paris by the Prince de Conde, he failed them all. Aymar could hardly have avoided the tests, since he had become a national celebrity and is still touted among the faithful as a powerful operator. One wonders what the executed youth thought of Aymar's reputed powers" (Randi, 1982, p. 4). Another arcane practice known as "radiesthesia" was used by medieval psychics who used a divining rod to reveal the identity of thieves, a technique that was used inordinately often on innocent but unpopular or otherwise socially unacceptable citizens (Cavendish, 1970).

Definitions - Categories. As noted above, the definitions of psychics are quite broad. According to Abanes (1998), the term "psychic" was first used by French astronomer Camille Flammarion (1842- 1925); Flammarion's main interest, though, was in the area of necromancy (i.e., communication with the dead) via mediums; in the United Kingdom, the term "psychic" was first used by Edward Cox (1809-1879), a famous investigator of the paranormal (Abanes, 1998). The majority of psychics today are considered to be particularly "sensitive" in some fashion to information that is not normally available to non-psychic people; this otherwise unobtainable knowledge is received by them through a variety of paranormal phenomena: meetings with dead relatives, angelic encounters, disembodied voices, and color visions (Abanes, 1998, p. 44).

Previous Relevant Research. Despite the many inaccurate pronouncements that have come from psychics, people continue to look to them as reliable prognosticators. The twentieth century has seen at least three psychics whose end-time prophecies have enjoyed immense popularity: Charles "Criswell" King, Gordon Michael Scallion, and the famous Edgar Cayce. Scallion and Cayce were even featured on "Ancient Prophecies," a 1996/1997 four-part television documentary about the coming apocalypse (Abanes, 1998). Likewise, today, popular television series such as "Psychic Detectives" and "Psychics" suggest that many people either believe in their powers or are at least open to the possibility and intrigued by its potential. In fact, the use of "psychic powers" in a court of law has not been restricted to medieval France and a fairly contemporary instance took place in the city of Watkins Glen, near Binghamton, New York, where criminal justice authorities seem to believe in such powers and actually encourage their use in the courtroom in the 1980s (Randi, 1982). In his book, Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions, Randi reports, "A conjurer named Philip Jordan, whose claim to fame is that he performs the table-tipping trick and several other stunts right out of the catalog, has been retained by the police force and the Public Defender's Office to work for them in that city" (Randi, 1982, p. 4). This contracted "professional" psychic was even provided with a seat directly next to the public defender and, by measuring the "aura" around each prospective juror, made the decision as to whether that person was appropriate for jury duty. "Incredible?," Randi asks. "The trial judge saw nothing wrong with it. Apparently the New York judicial system accepts supernatural powers as genuine and allows them to be used in the courtroom process of determining the guilt or innocence of a defendant! The Dark Ages have not quite ended in Watkins Glen" (emphasis added) (Randi, 1982, p. 4).

Interestingly, not only did the judge accept this "professional" psychic and his zany voir dire decisions in an actual American court of law, the New York Bar Association and the Tioga County Bar Association were also amenable to his practice. According to Randi (1982), "Notified of this idiocy, both organizations defended the right of the defense attorney to call anyone he wished to assist him in an expert capacity. Expert? Expert in what? In magic tricks? In half-truths and deception? Did anyone bother to try to find out if Jordan actually had the ability he claimed to have?" (emphasis added) (p. 4). As noted above, Randi, like Houdini, was a relentless debunker of such psychics, and offered to test Philip Jordan in front of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, with his invitation to be tested being delivered by Bill McKee of radio station WENE. The psychic, Philip Jordan, refused to answer Randi's telephone calls and letters and when McKee asked Bruno Colapietra, president of the Broome County Bar Association, for his opinion, the following "remarkable" statement was provided: "Said this worthy, 'I think it is harmful to the dignity and traditions of the courts if it is allowed to be known.' but, he added, it is not dangerous in itself 'because experienced attorneys are not going to need psychics" (Randi, 1982, p. 4).

The president of the Broome County Bar Association reported that he approved of using "psychics" if it is done "in an unobtrusive fashion" (Randi, 1982, p. 4). Not surprisingly, "The Amazing Randi" was in fact amazed as this decision: "Does this imply that Robert Miller, the Public Defender who hit upon the brilliant idea of introducing a 'psychic' into the Watkins Glen courtroom, is not experienced -- or should it be assumed that he is merely na ve?" (Randi, 1982, p. 4). Although these instances of debunked psychics in the courtroom and in the field do not tell the whole story of course, they do provide some recent examples of how people can be led to believe what they want to believe if those in authority approve of them and provide them with some type of official status or capacity in the criminal justice system. These examples also show has resources were simply being wasted and in some cases misused by those who entrusted psychics to perform any type of legitimate function in the criminal justice system since time was wasted and "auras" do not generally pass voir dire muster.

Chapter III - Methodology.

A.

Setting. The survey developed for this study was administered online, with an emailed invitation to participate posted in a student-related forum. All told, 25 responses were received in time to be included in the data analysis.

B.

Description of the Subjects. Membership in the StudentCenter.com is free and open to anyone with an interest in high school and collegiate issues.

C.

Description of the Research Instrument. Because of the esoteric nature of the issue under investigation, a custom survey was used based on the results of the literature review and collaboration with friends, classmates, co-workers and family members who also provided face validity for the research instrument.

D.

Procedures. The StudentCenter.com Web site provides free hosted forums on a wide variety of topics, and the ability to post custom surveys; an invitation to participate was mentioned in the "subject" line of the survey and was posted in the "homework help" forum. The results of the survey were then tabulated and analyzed using SPSS Version 11.0 (Student Version). Frequencies and descriptive narratives were developed based on this analysis and are provided in Chapter 4 below.

Chapter IV - Results and Analysis.

A.

Hypothesis 1: There would be no legitimate instances of the use of psychics by law enforcement authorities identified in the critical review of the relevant literature.

All data related to Hypothesis 1. This hypothesis was completely confirmed.

Analysis of data. The review of the peer-reviewed and scholarly literature found that while there were some instances of the use of psychics in the criminal justice system in the United States, their use was determined to be based on misconceptions about what psychics could do and what credentials they brought to the table that qualified them for the practice.

B.

Hypothesis 2: Even if such instances of the successful use of psychics in a criminal justice investigation were identified, they would have an equally rationale explanation and scientific basis for their success.

All data related to Hypothesis 2. This hypothesis was also confirmed.

Analysis of data. Even if there are instances where psychics were able to identify a capital crime suspect, there are some intuitive explanations for their alleged success. According to Randi (1982), a common practice among some law enforcement authorities has been to provide a psychic with a list of known criminals and provide them with the subtle clues they need to identify the preferred suspect.