Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic PsychologyHealy, William
Science
Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic Psychology
Healy, William
Criminal psychology; Swindlers and swindling
As possible causative factors of the unmitigated lying we found
(a) defective heredity leading to (b) typical constitutional
inferiority with the peculiar states of mind characteristic of
the latter, (c) poor developmental conditions through early
illnesses; (d) excessive bad sex practices on the part of the boy
himself. Vindictive reaction to charges of delinquency against
himself might be considered a factor if his false accusations had
not been made without any such stimulus a long time previously.
(According to another classification this case belongs in our
chapter on Border-line Types. It is retained here because it so
well illustrates pathological accusation.)
John S., an undersized boy of 16, a pitiable specimen, when under
arrest for vagrancy told such a heartrending story of home
conditions, with assertions against family morality, that the
judge and others were moved to indignation and an investigation
was started. The general feeling was that no one who was not
insane could make such statements about their nearest of kin
without foundation in fact.
We found a poorly developed, but fairly nourished young fellow;
weight 112 lbs., height 5 ft. 2 in.; good strength for his size.
Stigmata: slight facial asymmetry, ears very long and narrow,
dentition very irregular--one upper canine having erupted behind
the central incisors. Tattooing on the chest. Vision defective,
but how much so was impossible to estimate on account of corneal
ulcer and general gonorrheal ophthalmia. Gait and attitude very
slouchy. In contrast to general poor development, has already
full sex development and much hair over body for his age.
On the mental side we found an excitable and talkative fellow,
quite coherent, and giving in no way any indication of aberration
by the form or trend of his conversation. He tells us he reached
the 6th grade. He willingly works on tests and we note the
general result as follows: Learning and memory processes, both
for logical verbal and for meaningless associations, quite good.
Perception of form, normal. Power of analysis of situations
mentally represented, only mediocre. Associative processes,
verbal, not normally accurate. Writes good hand. Simple
spelling correct. Arithmetic correct for 4th grade. Tests for
several other points hardly fair to register on account of
defective eyesight. On one he failed because of not knowing the
alphabet in order. Suggestibility extreme, as evidenced by
testimony test. In giving report on the ``Aussage'' picture,
Test VI, he enumerated 12 items, 11 of them correct, on free
recital. Then he gave 11 more details, all correct, on
cross-examination, but he accepted no less than 7 out of 8
suggestions offered.
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