TO MAKE LYING IMPOSSIBLE

Evening Star, Issue 20149, 13 April 1929, Page 25

TO MAKE LYING IMPOSSIBLE

DRUGS FOR SUSPECTS Will drugs lake the place of juries in British Courts of Law, and dope injections render obsolete the American Third Degree? This is no fantastic dream. In a recent murder case in Hawaii the police surgeon injected hyoscine into an accused person with the object of obtaining a confession while the man was under the influence of the drug. Kaisan, a twenty-ycnr-old Japanese chauffeur, was arrested on a charge of having abducted the schoolboy son of his employer, demanding a ransom of £2,000 .and murdering his victim, ft appears that the father paid over the money, but the police failed to appear as arranged, and the boy’s body was found in some bushes. Confronted with the terrible charge, Kaisan protested his innocence, an attitude he steadfastly maintained under the Third Degree, fie was forced to transcribe the letter demanding the ransom, but handwriting experts disagreed when original and copy were compared. At this deadlock the police administered a heavy injection of hyoscine hydrobromidc. This drug is supposed to produce a twilight sleep from which persons emerge to talk from the subconscious mind and reveal the complete truth. Kaisan confessed to writing the letter, but when the effects of the drug wore off he denied the admission, and again insisted on his innocence. A second injection gave negative results. Experts were nonplussed, but they were spared further experiment, as word came that the murderer had been found and a full confession obtained. The idea of extracting a truthful plea by administering drugs is not a new one, for the ‘ Lancet ’ points out that six years ago, Dr House, of Texas, described two similar tests made upon supposed criminals. In both eases tlie answers given by the suspects proved their innocence. The drug, by depressing the power of reasoning and imagination, was said to make lying impossible, and Dr House suggested that the method should be available in criminology. Under English law, however, statements made by accused persons are not normally accepted as evidence, unless the customary warning has first been given. It is difficult, therefore (says the ‘Lancet’),, to see bow the suggested doping method of obtaining a confession could be reconciled to" the British conception of lair play and justice.