Captain Jack J Nicholais Ret. 30 yrs. Law Enforcement NJ
Currently Police Chief, Roseto, Pa.
Member of the National Guild of Hypnotists
The National Board of Professional and Ethical Standards
The British Association of Therapeutical Hypnotists
Clinical Hypnotherapist, Master Hypnotist, Forensic Hypnotist, Certified Hypnosis Instructor
908-475-8051 Office Cell 973-903-0909
Services that I offer:
Private sessions for your clients, victims, and witnesses for memory recall
Law Enforcement Cases
Use with Composite artists
Forensic Hypnosis Certification
Lectures on the subject to the Bar Assoc., Police Academies, and PI groups.
When an investigation of this type is conducted it is no different then that of a polygraph interview. The same protocols are observed in order to get an accurate and concise description, and recall those details that may have escaped or been hidden.
See below for descriptions
You may have a client, or are that person that cannot remember a specific event that led up to your injury, you may have been a victim, or witnessed a crime that you would like to come to terms with. If so, then Forensic Memory Recall may help.
* Are you a person that has been in a traffic accident and cannot recall the events leading up to it?
* Are you a worker that has had an injury, but the events leading up to it are clouded?
* Were you a passenger in a vehicle and possibly seen the events leading up to your accident, but have trouble recalling it?
* Have you witnessed a crime, or been a victim of a crime, and are having trouble coping with it?
* Have a case or crime that you would like more details about?
If you are an attorney, or PI, and your case depends on the memory of your client, then Forensic Hypnosis is what you need to uncover those misplaced, or blocked events to help in your case, or investigation, and give closure to your client.
Forensic Hypnosis Investigator Certification Program for the Private Investigator, Law Enforcement Officer or the General public. Also available for course instruction in Police Academies, Colleges, Law enforcement classes. Learn the Forensic Hypnosis course in under 100 hours of training.
If you have ever been fascinated with law enforcement, CSI, or forensics you will love these courses. Now for the first time offered to the general public (must be certified in hypnosis), you can work with police, lawyers, courts, witnesses, and victims. We are very proud that we are forensic consultants for the very popular TV show, CSI.
Forensic Hypnosis has been used in famous cases around the world. Two of the most famous cases are the Chowchilla case and Rock vs. Arkansas.
In the Chowchilla case (California) a bus driver, Ed Ray and 26 students were kidnapped and buried alive. The bus driver and some of the students managed to dig their way out of the grave to safety. Ed Ray was hypnotized to recall the suspect's van license plate number as he saw the license plate number when the van was in front of the bus. Ed Ray remembered all but one of the characters on the license plate, which helped the police capture and convict the suspects. This is one of the most famous cases ever where forensic hypnosis was used successfully. There was even a movie made regarding this case.
The other famous case is the Rock vs. Arkansas case. This is a case where a husband and wife were having a domestic dispute. She was charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of her husband. She stated that during the struggle with her husband, he had pushed her against the wall and she grabbed the gun from a corner table nearby and told him to stop hitting her. She was unable to recall all of the details of the shooting. She was hypnotized twice and was unable to recall any additional information. After the hypnosis session she recalled that the handgun had accidentally discharged when her husband grabbed her arm during the dispute while she had her thumb on the hammer, but her finger was not on the trigger. Based on the information obtained from Mrs. Rock, her attorney had a firearms expert test the gun and the expert did find that the gun was indeed defective. The prosecutor had her hypnosis session excluded and she was convicted to 10 years in prison for manslaughter
In State v. Hurd 432 A.2d 86 (1981)
The Supreme Court of New Jersey did not demand, as a precondition of admissibility, that hypnosis be generally accepted as a means of reviving truthful or historically accurate recall...The purpose of using hypnosis is not to obtain truth, as a polygraph or "truth serum" is supposed to do. Instead, hypnosis is employed as a means of overcoming amnesia and restoring the memory of a witness...In light of this purpose, hypnosis can be considered reasonably reliable if it is able to yield recollections as accurate as those of an ordinary witness, which likewise are often historically inaccurate...If it is conducted properly and used only in appropriate cases, hypnosis is generally accepted as a reasonably reliable method of restoring a person's memory. Consequently, hypnotically-induced testimony may be admissible if the proponent of hypnosis in the particular case was a reasonably reliable means of restoring memory comparable to normal recall in its accuracy.
"Today most courts recognize hypnosis as a potentially useful evidentiary tool, absolute exclusion of which would result in the loss of valuable evidence. Accordingly, most courts will admit the testimony of an individual whose recollection has been refreshed by hypnosis" Bailey and Shapiro, Hypnosis: Should Hypnotically Induced Testimony be Excluded? Washburn Law Journal, Vol. 21, p607,1987
On October 31, 1970, Karen Kline was killed in an automobile accident while was driving her new Ford Pinto. Jacqueline Selby was a passenger in the vehicle, which was traveling about 50-60 mph down the highway when it suddenly turned and crashed into an embankment on the opposite side of the road. Kline's estate filed a civil action for damages against the Ford Motor Co. Selby's memory was refreshed by use of hypnosis, and the court ruled that since she was present and personally saw and heard the events at the time of the accident, and since she was testifying about her present recollection of the event, herb testimony was admissible. The fact of hypnosis went to the credibility of her testimony and not to her competence as a witness. Kline v Ford Motor Co. 523 F.2d 1067 (9th Cir. 1975) Whitney S Hibbard, Raymond W. Worring, First Ed. Forensic Hypnosis.
As a private investigator or attorney that handles accident cases of any kind, you may encounter a client that cannot recall for whatever reason the facts or incidents leading up to their injury. You probably could refer them to a hypnotist, and accompany them in order to get these facts, but who do you call?
Not all hypnotists are trained to deal with patients that have had a life changing event through an injury. Only a trained Hypnotherapist may assist you. And, only a trained Hypnotherapist that has over 28 years of police experience, and knows how to conduct investigations can get you the information that makes your case more viable in court. When a client says " I can't remember what happened", or "I don't recall all the facts", don't you wish you knew how to get this information thereby making a stronger case along the liability or fault issues?
If you have a client in need of recall to not cast any doubt on how their injury occurred, the investigation must be conducted in a certain way to preserve the chain of events. Being a clinical Hypnotherapist, and a retired police captain, I can help your client recall the chain of events leading up to their accident, whether they are either a victim or a witness involved in an accident.
By using the services of a Clinical Hypnotherapist that was also a law enforcement professional. We all have two minds. A conscious mind and a unconscious mind. Our conscious mind can only hold about seven bits of information, about what is today phone numbers and the like, or a small shopping list that our wives tell us to get before we come home from work. Chances are, by the time you get to the store, you have already forgotten half of the items. Our conscious mind is only temporary memory. Once we use up what we had there, there is no need to store the information so it is disposed of.
Our unconscious mind makes up 90% of our memory. Our unconscious mind is like that of a super computer, and even more. Everything we have ever seen, heard, touched, smelled, tasted, or experienced is recorded in our unconscious mind! We can recall all this information with just a little help. We can even re-live the experience or watch it as if we are watching a movie. We can play it forward, stop the action, rewind, or do anything as if it were a tape recorder. We can even zoom in, or zoom out, we can even look at the scene from different angles, even picture composites have been made with hypnosis. All of this through the use of our unconscious mind. But, in order to do this, the client has to have someone experienced enough to help them through the process, hence a clinical Hypnotherapist with law enforcement experience.
Regressing your client back to just before an accident or incident happened can unlock some of the answers that you have been looking for in the case. Not only that but, it could also help your client deal with that particular situation and help them cope with the outcome, thereby helping in the healing process.
When an investigation of this type is conducted it is no different then that of a polygraph interview. The same protocols are observed in order to get an accurate and concise description.
1. The interview is done at a location that is convenient and/or protective for the client. It may also be done at your location.
2. The interview is video and/or audio taped, explaining the entire process to your client. Assuring your client the benefits of hypnosis and how facts can be recalled etc. This process may take anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes.
3. The client may have one person of their choosing to be in the room with them to make them more comfortable. The investigator and/or attorney may also be present. Paperwork necessary is taken and explained. 10-15 min.
4. Suggestibility tests are given to relax the client and continuation of pre-talk is done to make them feel m ore at ease. 15-30 min.
5. The interview is first done with the client telling as much as they can remember and notes taken by all parties. Even going over their last statements. Usually another 30 minutes.
6. The client is then given the induction, and tests are made during this time. 10 min.
7. The investigation process is now done and may include some regression work to the time period needed. This can take anywhere from 30 min. to one hour.
8. A discussion is now made with the client to see if there is anything that they would like while here in hypnosis in order to better cope with their situation.
9. The client is counted out of hypnosis and allowed to refresh themselves.
10. The client is then made aware of the process they just under went and told that over the course of the next several days, to maybe a week or so more information may filter it's way up into the conscious mind, and that they should make and keep a diary of the information to pass onto the investigator or attorney.
So, here you see is what can be done with hypnosis recall, and this is just a brief example of how it works. If you have a client that has their memory blocked because of an incident or accident, or just needs recall so you can complete your investigation or prepare for your liability court case, give me a call so we can talk, or email me with your question.
Session fee: Call for information
Check back here often for information about how this investigative tool can help you.
* Just a note here, in response to a recent email . Some investigators lack knowledge as to the benefits that can be of use in certain cases with hypnosis. Whether through ignorance, a phobia, or lack of information about what is offered and how effective it can be in the investigative field they will make negative comments. Many police departments, including LAPD, Texas dept. of Justice, NYPD, FBI & many others have, and still use Forensic hypnosis today, if you have any questions, feel free to email me, don't be kept in the dark about a "new" enforcement tool that has been used by police since the 1800's, the ignorant will always remain in the dark and comment on something they have no knowledge of, it is the true investigator that sees the light.