A psychologist sees your average trial in a very different light photo: wikimedia commons

Court through the eyes of a psychologist

In my eyes, out of all of the courts, the magistrates’ courts are the most interesting. You never know what you are going to be faced with. All criminal cases start in the magistrates’ court but for more serious crimes, the case is sent to the Crown Court for a trial by jury. Therefore, no matter what type of crime has been committed it is sent to the magistrates’ court first. Consequently, for somebody like myself who loves being inquisitive, this is the perfect opportunity to learn about some of the terrible crimes committed or simply become absorbed in some offenders harrowing stories that lead them down the criminal path.

On Wednesday 26th September 2012, I witnessed 11 cases in the magistrates’ court. These cases ranged from theft, assault, harassment and even domestic violence. To say my day was ‘different’ is a large understatement. Maybe it is because I have had no legal training but I look on the defendants and the contexts of their cases with passion and emotion, unlike the magistrates, justice clerks, probation Officers, prosecutors and solicitors that have an almost laissez-faire approach to their everyday routine.

In amongst the life changing decisions these people make… they gossip! “So what did you do at the weekend?” I remember the court usher replying with a giggle explaining how her and her husband went to “Hyde Park for a picnic” and casually “caught a show at the West End”. I wonder what the offenders were doing at the weekend?

This normal, genuine human behaviour is suddenly juxtaposed with the immediate and stern “ALL RISE” command after two loud taps heard from the magistrates chambers instructing the court to enter. Everyone in the court room stands instantaneously, even the offender rises without objection this is reinforced by the sudden clang of chains and groan from the police officers attached to the defendant.

Is it the lack of emotion the magistrates show that makes them seem so powerful and non-human? Or is it the fact that tradition has created an air of respect and honour surrounding them…after all they are addressed ‘My Worships’ but these three OAP’s were enough to make offenders ranging from 5 times assault, theft and domestic violence crumble at their feet and whimper a plea of ‘guilty’.

I instantly related this behaviour to Stanley Milgram’s (1963) notable social psychology experiment. His research produced exceptional results that shocked the public. Milgram found that 65% of his participants were willing to administer fatal shocks of 450 Volts to another individual (actually a confederate in another room) even when the participant could hear screams of pain, pleas to ‘stop’ or silence indicating passing out from the pain or death. Milgram concluded that the sheer obedience to authority figures caused this type of behaviour in his participants.

These findings were somewhat unbelievable to think that simply oral instruction from an authority figure was incontestable on behalf of the participant, even when they seemingly had moral standards and found it incredibly uncomfortable to administer such pain to another human being. For example, participants, sweated, trembled, stuttered, bite their lips, groaned, and dug their fingernails into their skin; some were even having nervous laughing fits or seizures in reaction to the instructions they were given. This study is thought to have implications that shed light on how Nazi Concentration Camps were created and maintained during World War II.

Milgram suggested that these horrors may have occurred due to the millions of accomplices merely following orders from authority figures. Therefore is it simply the authority associated with magistrates and courts that make offenders cave to the feet of justice? Could this be associated with the psychological mechanism of obedience that the courts create an illusion of intimidation whereby offenders succumb to the power?

If obedience was so powerful though, why do we have criminals or re-offenders in the first place? One of the disturbing cases I was completely absorbed in was about a father of four assaulting a police officer. His story was that he had recently lost his wife to alcoholism and was left to look after his four children and himself. He also had an addiction to alcohol but due to his grief and increased responsibility to his children he vowed to take control of his alcohol problem and work toward a better future. His ‘appropriate adult’ was present in the case and everyone could see that this man was deeply troubled.

On the day of question his two daughters had been assaulted and when the police officers arrived at the scene his daughters and the other family were in the middle of a gross and intolerable slanging match whereby the incident escalated and eventually ended with the defendant punching a police officer in the face. So what happens if good people are contaminated with alcohol and horrible people act as a catalyst for their crimes? Is this a reason for criminals or re-offenders in the first place?

Recent statistics show that the offenders in 45% of violent crimes are believed by their victims to be drinking and 37% of domestic violence cases involve alcohol. Do these crimes ensue because of alcohol, or because of the offender’s nature? This leads to the nature versus nurture argument, whereby psychological research has indicated the importance of both biological and environmental impacts on adult behaviour.

For example, Reif and Colleagues (2007) noted the importance of two genes called 5HTT and AMAOA in violent behaviour. Adult males were found to be at the highest risk of producing violent conduct when they had adverse childhood conditions (an environmental factor) interacting with the 5HTT genotype. These findings indicate that complex interactions between the environment and an individual’s genetic make up are the strongest contributing course for violent behaviour.

Thus my trail of thought leads to Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Study (1971) which created shocking results on par with Milgram’s research. The Stanford Prison Experiment assigned 24 male students to either a prisoner role or a prison guard role. The experiment took place in the basement of Stanford University Psychology department where a mock prison was created. The aim of the study was to see whether inherent personality traits of prisoners and guards are the sole contributors to abusive behaviour in prison. What Zimbardo was not expecting to find was how serious the experiment became, to the point where it had to be stopped on day 6 out of a 14 day scheduled research.

The conclusion was that 1/3 of the prison guard’s demonstrated genuine sadistic tendencies. The prison guards; harassed the prisoners, used physical punishments and even prohibited the prisoners from emptying the buckets in their cells used for urination and defecation as a punishment for disobedience. The guards became increasingly cruel as the study continued to the point where they removed prisoners mattresses so they had to sleep on a concrete floor, some prisoners were even forced to undress as a method of degradation. What created this type of behaviour? Was it the prison environment combined with a violent genotype? Or was it the fact that laymen were given a position of authority that made them feel powerful or untouchable?

Zimbardo concluded that if people are given the impression of authority and seemingly have social and institutional support obedience is unequivocal. So maybe the Magistrates’ courts are a good place where justice is rightfully established or could it be that sometimes the power could be too much for someone to control? After all it is someone’s life they are determining in amongst their gossip and everyday social interactions. My day at the Magistrates’ court was fair from normal as I watched the Defendants, Prosecutors, Solicitors, Magistrates and Justice Clerks in Court Room One I couldn’t help but relate their behaviour to these studies!

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