I Know What You're Really Thinking
Reading Body Language Like a Trial Lawyer
by
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Picture this purely fictional scenario: you are outside Interrogation Room Blue-206 at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, which is a small "office," with many hidden micro-cameras and very well-concealed devices for surreptitious viewing, body temperature measurement, motion movement monitors and listening devices of all types. A person suspected of selling documents to a foreign government sits comfortably alone about to be interviewed as a potential spy. He is unrestrained, but there is only a chair for him to sit on...no desk or obvious one-way mirrors or recording machines viewable.
Prior to the interviewer entering the locked room, 17-20 CIA physicians, physiologists, psychiatrists, body language experts, and computer operators take their respective positions at various separate computer terminals and other hyper-modern monitoring machinery outside the room, and elsewhere in the building. These can, and will, continually and unknown to him measure the suspect’s pulse rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, blink counts, body temperature changes, galvanic skin responses, vocal tone signature changes, and micro-movements and gestures. The computers do it all from afar. There is no typical polygraph machine in the room, since they do not wish the suspect to take any possible defensive physiological measures should he have been trained to endure more "normal" lie-detector tests in order to produce "false negative" results.
He also will be videotaped on all of these cameras from seven or eight different angles, including head-on close-up, from left and right at 45 degrees (full body), from the top directly over his chair, and full body from about 10 feet away. These tapes are capable of being replayed later at speeds of down to one-tenth the original, picking up the slightest motions of any part of the torso, head, any part of the face, or extremities. These motions will then be measured by the computers using an invisible "grid" system, which runs thermally-based lines horizontally and vertically throughout the entire room, visible to the cameras and computers, but not the suspect.
Before the interrogator enters, all systems are switched on, and the many computers started for 5 minutes of monitoring, in order to obtain a "baseline" of non-pressure readings on the subject. These then continue throughout the interview, and for 5 minutes after the session ends, with the suspect still in the room.
After a very thorough interrogation, in which the suspect apparently gave answers that would have thoroughly convinced a non-experienced observer that he was totally innocent of the accusations against him, the "company’s" Deception Detection Body Language Computer Program (DDBLP 1.1.2) provides print-outs clearly showing our suspect is lying at every crucial stage of the interview. The observers have already concluded that, purely from their visual analysis of his body language alone.
Does all of this make sense? Probably not now, but I guarantee that you will understand all of it by the end of this book!
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About the Book
Whereas books on body language have been written by psychologists and sociologists, Marc Mogil’s I Know What You’re Really Thinking. (Reading Body Language Like a Trial Lawyer.) stands out from the field since it reflects the experience a man who has spent twenty-five years of his life as a trial judge, courtroom special prosecutor, and defense attorney.
This intensive view of the different signals of kinesics and territoriality we all unconsciously possess, aids the average person in gaining a valuable insight into ascertaining what a person really feels, who is or isn't telling them the truth, despite any verbiage to the contrary.
Dealing with general modes of non-verbal communication, the author explains from a legal mind point-of-view the signs of territoriality and zones of privacy (and how to use them to read people), describes specific bodily gestures, and finally provides an enjoyable and functional experiment to see if you’ve caught on to the premises of body language.
This book is certain to be in demand by psychoanalysts, attorneys, students, employers, interviewees, and those interested in going through life with a better understanding of what the body unconsciously says and does with every comment made by or to us.
About the Author
Born and raised in New York City and educated in both New York and Bloomington, Indiana, Marc Mogil practiced trial law for a total of 25 years in New York and Florida. He was elected a New York State Judge at the age of 36, presiding over numerous homicides, robberies, and other major felonies for almost 10 of those 25 years.
A speaker on body language and the psychology of jury selection, he was previously a Special Assistant Attorney General -Office of Special Prosecutor for Medicaid Fraud Control in New York. He has written for professional legal journals and lectured to lawyers and students on the art of non-verbal communication.
No longer practicing law, he currently serves as President of JURY SELECTION CONSULTANTS, a company providing jury selection consulting in support of trial law firms in high-profile cases nationwide.
An instrument rated airplane pilot and pianist in his spare time, he resides with his wife and large family in Great Neck, New York.