Monday, December 7, 2015

Keep Psychology Out Of the Courtroom!

When the law welcomes the astrologer into the courtroom as possessing the same status as the astronomer; when the court listens to the priest with the same critical judgement it applies to the testimony of the physicist, then and only then will the testimony of clinical psychologists about the formation and functioning of the human mind in general or in particular individuals make sense as expert testimony.  When the concept of expertise itself is debased to nothing more than personal opinion, then the clinicians should take the stand along with the rest of the opinionated.  Why not?  Until then, throw them out of the courts.

Margaret A. Hagen (Boston University Psychologist), Whores of the Court: The Fraud of Psychiatric Testimony and the Rape of American Justice, p.301.  Cited by Dr. Tana Dineen in, Manufacturing Victims: What the Psychology Industry is Doing to People, pg.156

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