The Value of Circumstantial Evidence
| Published date | 01 April 1932 |
| Date | 01 April 1932 |
| Author | A. S. Mavrogordato |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3200500212 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Value
of
Circumstantial Evidence
By
COLONEL
A. S. MAVROGORDATO, O.B.E.
Inspector-General of
the
Trinidad
Constabulary
and
formerly
Commandant
of
the
Palestine Police
IT is perhaps a prosy platitude to repeat that it is better that
ahundred guilty persons should be acquitted rather than
one innocent man should be convicted. However, this is a
working principle which has been adhered to for many years
in countries within the British Empire.
In
the followingarticle
it is intended to demonstrate with what care a police officer
should test and sift and re-test all evidence which he proposes
to use against anyone charged with a criminal offence. Par-
ticularly does this apply to cases in which the prosecution
mainly relies on circumstantial evidence.
It
has been stated that circumstantial evidence is often
better and more convincing than evidence of another kind.
While this may be true of a large percentage of cases, it is
equally true that it is
just
in
the
case where circumstantial
evidence is pre-eminent that the police officer should be most
careful. A set of circumstances can so easily be made to fit
an accepted theory, and the danger is that an officer uncon-
sciously forms a preconceived idea, and makes every effort to
apply to that idea any details of available circumstantial
evidence.
In
the investigation of a case of this nature one
should always look for the unexpected, and the value of pre-
serving an open mind cannot be too greatly emphasized.
It
is not intended here to assail the value of circum-
stantial evidence, since that value has been amply demon-
strated in hundreds of cases. More especially is this so when
such evidence is supported by scientific examinations of
either persons or exhibits. No better example of this could
be found than the case which is described in the following
293
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