Science as Applied to Circumstantial Evidence
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X2800100207 |
| Date | 01 April 1928 |
| Author | C. Ainsworth Mitchell |
| Published date | 01 April 1928 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Science as applied
to
Circumstantial
Evidence
By C.
AINSWORTH
MITCHELL,
M.A.,
F.I.C.
Secretary, Society of Public Analysts
NOT so many years ago there was a strong tendency to dis-
credit the value of circumstantial evidence,
and
it was not
uncommon for juries to attach
much
more weight to the
testimony of eye-witnesses
than
to the inferences (often more
conclusive) to be drawn from the collateral facts.
In
some
notorious cases of the past positive statements by a
number
of
persons that they had actually seen someone doing aparticular
act were accepted without sufficient attention being given to
the
credibility of the witnesses or to the conditions
under
which
their observations were made, whilst circumstantial evidence
which did not support the direct evidence was practically
ignored. At the present time it is becoming increasingly
realized, largely through the agency of Press reports of trials,
that the two forms of evidence are closely inter-related,
and
that the relative importance to be attached to one or the other
must vary with the particular circumstances. Moreover, in
a large proportion of the cases that come before the courts
direct testimony is not forthcoming, and frequently the only
way of proving the innocence or guilt of the defendant to a
charge is to ascertain the significance of all the attendant facts.
With
the accumulation of human knowledge the range covered
by such facts has been steadily widened, and each new discovery
and invention has extended still further the possible applica-
tions of circumstantial evidence.
Thus,
photography has proved of value in
human
identi-
fication, although it is far from infallible, since it is not proof
against disguise, and, at best, gives only the representation of
aperson at a given moment, which
mayor
may
not
be a
characteristic one.
The
danger of relying
upon
the exclusive
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