Book Review: Expert Evidence
| Published date | 01 October 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X9606900421 |
| Date | 01 October 1996 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
a night stick is described as an inspector.
The author, who never served in the force, has put together a very
readable history with some fine photographs to illustrate the changing
years of what is perhaps a lesser known force - a force nevertheless who
have developed to meet the changing needs of society as we approach
the millennium. R.
Jerrard
MENTAL HEALTH LAW, by
Brenda
Hoggett. Sweet &Maxwell.
Paperback
£32.
The fourth edition of a book by the Hon. Mrs Justice Hale, DBE, which
is now recognized as the standard text for all who have anything to do
with mentally disordered or disorderly people.
In a society with rapidly changing mores, mental disorder is viewed
by people as through a prismwith the various imagesreflecting attitudes,
ranging from overwhelming, almost suffocating sympathy, to hostile
antipathy, bordering on hatred. The discharge of patients from long-term
detention into the community in recent years, placing an obligation on
local services to provide after-care, when taken with the commission of
serious crimes by mentally disordered offenders who, apparently, had
been released too early from places such as Brampton, has focused public
attention on a complex problem on which opinions are founded on little
or no information.
In this respect, the author performs a public service by providing a
comprehensive and comprehensible critical analysis of the law in a form
which enables readers, of whatever degree of skill, to have ready access
to the information that they seek. Focused on the Mental Health Act
1983, the book is updated from the 1990 edition to include much new
case-law, the revised Code of Practice, the Law Commission's Report
on Mental Incapacity, and other relevant material. In 10 chapters, the
contents range from the rights of the individual and care treatment in the
community, through civil commitment and mentally disordered offenders
their treatment and management, to Mental Health Review Tribunals.
Police officers will find the chapter dealing with mentally disordered
offenders particularly interesting: police powers and involvement with
such offenders is a model of literary skill.
This is without doubt an excellent book which fulfils its purpose
admirably.
EXPERT EVIDENCE, by
Ian
Freckleton
and
Hugh
Selby.
The
Law
Book
Company
Ltd
of
Australia.
Four
loose
leaf
volumes.
A major reference work edited by two Australian practising barristers
and thus based on Antipodean law and practice, which provides a
comprehensive analysis of the law relating to expert evidence. It takes
the form of papers on over 55 specialist areas, written by acknowledged
leaders in their field, many of whom have studied in the UK.
Obviously, this is not a book of handy hints for practitioners designed
October 1996 The Police Journal 373
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