Book Review: Psychiatry and the Dilemmas of Crime
| Author | L. Howard Whitaker |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486586900200108 |
| Published date | 01 March 1969 |
| Date | 01 March 1969 |
N. E. W.
McCALLUM,
Reader in Forensic Medicine,
University of Melbourne.
Book Reviews
Forensic Science, H. J. Walls, Sweet &
Maxwell, London, 1968, 216 pp., $8.90.
IT is a pleasure to record
the
appearance
of a modern
textbook
in a field in
which
~he
literature
i~
by no means plentiful. It
IS
also interesting
to
note that,
with
very
few exceptions,
the
only
recent
English
texts on
the
subject
of forensic science
written
primarily as useful references for
practising forensic scientists seem to eman-
ate from former directors of the Metro-
politan Police Laboratory. Dr.
Wans'
text
IS
a
modem
extension
of
that
of a previous
director (L. C. Nickolls, 1956)
and
is,
understandably,
more
comprehensive.
This textbook has combined
the
useful
techniques
used
in criminal investigation
by
the
technical police officer; these chap-
ters
cater
well for the technical officer in
contact traces, casting of impressions of
Il?any kinds.
a!1~
the
collection
and
prepara-
tion of exhibitions for presentation in evi-
dence.
The identification and comparison of
structures of paints, glass, safe ballast
and
soils, which is ordinarily dealt
with
by
the
forensic scientists has been brought up to
date by
the
inclusion of
the
tremendous in-
creases in knowledge in the fields and
the
advances in technology. The biological
sections describing identification of blood
and
other
body
fluids, species and
hair
fibres are dealt
with
in some detail. Again,
of course,
there
have
been considerable ad-
vances in
these
fields to be included in
the
forensic diagnostic armamentarium.
Alcohol and
the
driver is discussed on a
level which is
adequate
for some
pur-
poses, but
probably
not
for
the
chemist or
lawyer
who
wishes to be informed on a
particular aspect
of
this subject which
may
be in legal issue. The question
of
post-
mortem blood alcohol concentration is one
which can be of
the
utmost
medico-legal
importance,
but
does not
appear
to receive
any
attention.
It has occurred to
the
reviewer
whether
atextbook of this
nature
justifies asection
on toxicology, particularly when
there
are
several valuable textbooks (some running
to
two
and
three
volumes) which deal
with
this important subject alone.
There
is
always the
possibility
that
an inexperienc-
ed chemist
may
be enticed into this highly
58
specialized field
when
the
subject receives
an undeservedly brief treatment.
In the section on "Documents" Dr. Walls
deals mainly
with
che·mical
and
physical}
techniques for
the
examination of docu-
ments to determine
their
genuineness
and
the question of erasures; his discussion on
handwriting examination is quite brief.
This
latter
he records as "a much
larger
and more complex subject, success in
which depends largely on experience
and
almost intuitive judgement
...
".
This textbook will be an invaluable ad-
junct
to
the
library of
the
police officer of
atechnical
tum
of mind in his investiga-
tion of crime, to the forensic scientist
and
the lawyer.
Psychiatry and the Dilemmas of Crime,
S. L. Halleck,
Harper
and Row, New
York, 382 pp., $11.50.
DR. HALLECK is Professor of Psychiatry
at
the University of Wisconsin and
has
had
extensive clinical experience in
the
man-
agement of offenders. It is
not
surprising
that
his book clearly conveys
the
impres-
sion of a
man
who sees Criminology to
consist largely of
the
search
for genuine
understanding of
the
person who offends,
and
for understanding of the problems of
the
persons who seek to work with
the
offender.
. The
total
absence of statistical analy-
SIS
may
irritate
those
who see criminals
as a heavy debit in
their
tables of social
reconciliation.
Further,
his deliberately
clinical style
may
be ridiculed as merely
anecdotal by those
who
for one reason or
another
do
not
feel motivated to
relate
w~th
crimi.nals.
a~
a level revealing
the
misery
WhICh
IS
Inseparable from crimin-
ality.
Karl Menninger begins his foreword with
apertinent
and
almost
surgically incisive
"historical" reference: "The first
man
born
on
earth
killed his
brother
and became a
criminal. His punishment, he said, was
greater
than
he could bear. But he was
not
executed and his descendants became
great
musicians,
artists
and herdsmen.
How would it
have
turned
out
if Cain had
killed Abel in
West
Virginia last month?"
vye
A~stralians
would readily answer by
saymg, Much
the
same
as if
the
offence
occurred in
Western
Australia
South
Aus-
tralia, Victoria, Tasmania or
N~w
Zealand."
This is indeed afirst-rate book which
has
already become a
text
book in
the
Criminology
Department
of
the
University
of Melboume because of
the
simple clarity
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