Hard Task For Witnesses To Tell The Whole Truth

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 30 September 1933, Page 14

Hard Task For Witnesses To Tell The Whole Truth

WITNESS in a ’Sydney court case recently was complimented by the judge on the straightforward manner in which he gave his evidence, says the Sydney “Daily Telegraph.” The judge then went on to enumerate the five precepts which an ideal witness should follow. They include “Speak loudly and clearly,” and other commendable items; but the psychologists will smile at the leading dictum, “Tell the truth.”

Quite apart from the well-worn allegory that truth resembles a threedimensional object of which any one person-can only see a portion at a time, there is the established fact that no one can relate any incident of an exciting nature exactly as it happened. There is a practical experiment provng this, which has been repeated over and over again with identical results.

Into a classroom of students listening to an unexciting lecture suddenly bursts a wild-eyed man flourishing a revolver. “I challenge whnt you have just said in the name of revealed religion!” he yells, rushing at the professor.

There is uproar and confusion, during which an attendant rushes in the door and seizes the madman. During the struggle the revolver is fired. The intruder is overpowered and led away. Then the professor informs the astonished class that the whole thing is a pre-arranged piece of acting, and asks

them to each write down a plain account of what actually happened. Sometimes it is a previously-coached student in the class who interrupts the professor and fires the revolver. The drama has been staged in many, ways. But, whatever the variant, it is an astounding fact that in none of these tests has a witness been able to relate all the events in exact order, with their correct details.

Some add imaginary incidents, others omit certain details, still others pervert the order in which the actions happened. In other words, not one of them is capable of telling "the whole truth.

There is a still more remarkable ox- , periment, which shows up mankind as . a. collective unconscious liar. In tho above-mentioned test there was the element of excitement, which would obviously interfere with calm judgment. No doubt such a test would reproduce the state of mind of a court witness who gave his version of an attempted murder. What of some incident where the emotional* element is absent? Surely a level-minded witness can be trusted' to relate afterwards a true version of what exactly happens? Alas for human nature! A profcssTT? enters his classroom carrying several mechanical toys, each of which, when a handle is turned, goes through some amusing movement. Having put each in motion in turn he then tolls his class i he is gping to make a test. He will ■ ’

(Work each model, after which the students are to write down what happened, and in the correct order. Simple enough, yet no one (unaware of the trick to be played) has yet succeeded. 'The professor disconnects some of the mechanism, so that the toys/ do .not move when the handle is turned. With minds concentrated on the order of presentation, most students see a hallucination of motion, and those that realise the immovability of some toys get confused watching the motion I of others, and ascribe the immovability j to the wrong toys. Recently a psychologist shocked Sydney by pronouncing that, as a' result of recent experiment, it was shown that 90 per cent, of young children, are liars. Some of the resentment aroused by that statement may evaporate when it is realised that the adult is a similar prevaricator. No one can relate the “wholfc trut! ” of an incident; at best, he or she can only give a version of what happened. If all the persons who swore that they saw the missing “.Southern Cloud” were telling the truth, that illfated aeroplane must have been in several places at the same time, like Boyle Roche’s bird.

The judge who advises, witnesses to “tell the truth” advises an impossibility. We can relate only what we think we have seen. The ideal witness does not exist.