Hans Gustav Adolf Gross (1847-1915) was an Austrian criminal jurist and an examining magistrate. He is believed to be the creator of the field of criminalistics; he taught as a professor at the Chernivtsi University, Prague University and the University of Graz, and established the Institute of Criminology in Graz. The release of his book Handbuch fur Untersuchungsrichter, Polizeibeamte, Gendarmen, u.s. w. (A Handbook for Examining Magistrates, Police Officials, Military Policemen, etc. ) in 1893, is marked as the birth of the field of criminalistics, applying science to the practices of crime investigation and law. Gross adapted some fields to the needs of criminal investigation, such as crime scene photography. His other works include: Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students (1898) and Encyclopedia of Criminology (1901).
THE present work was the first really objective Criminal Psychology which dealt with the mental states of judges, experts, jury, witnesses, etc., as well as with the mental states of criminals. And a study of the former is just as needful as a study of the latter. The need has fortunately since been recognized and several studies of special topics treated in this book—e.g. depositions of witnesses, perception, the pathoformic lie, superstition, probability, sensory illusions, inference, sexual differences, etc.—have become the subjects of a considerable literature, referred to in our second edition.
I agreed with much pleasure to the proposition of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology to have the book translated. I am proud of the opportunity to address Americans and Englishmen in their language. We of the German countries recognize the intellectual achievements of America and are well aware how much Americans can teach us.
I can only hope that the translation will justify itself by its usefulness to the legal profession.
