Larry Ray, Violence and Society
| Author | Stephen Tomsen |
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865812443769a |
| Published date | 01 August 2012 |
| Date | 01 August 2012 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
a solicitor) that ‘officers no longer collect evidence before they arrest someone ...detain-
ing someone in order to collect the evidence that they need is assumed to be necessary’
(p. 121). I can’t follow her argument that this helps to explain why 34 per cent of
detainees are not interviewed. She doesn’t comment on the potential for CCTV to
deter informal interviewing (and, if appropriate, reasons for its failure to do so).
There is relatively little here on the crucial interaction between custody officers and
investigators. Nor do we hear about the relationship between police and public pros-
ecutors who are now based in stations, but apparently not those parts accessible to
Skinns. Perhaps inevitably, I quibble with her sometimes patchy account of the previous
research. Finally, the empirical basis of Skinns’ study is quite narrow: in particular,
one week’s observation is not long enough to establish the trust and familiarity which
produces best results (Dixon, 2011). She interviewed 30 ‘practitioners’ (not many, if this
includes all the roles involved) and 23 ‘suspects’. (At what stage? Where? Why were they
detained? How were they selected?)
This book should be read by anyone with a serious interest in policing. It should be
taken by new researchers as a strong indication of both the possibility and importance
of intensive research on policing practices inside police stations. This message is par-
ticularly important for Australasia, where research on criminal investigations and police
custody is pitifully sparse and where jurisdictions cherry-picked from UK experience,
notably by increasing police powers to detain for investigative purposes while not
providing a substantial right to legal advice (i.e. through public funding and the organ-
ization of legal advisers to attend stations before and during their clients’ questioning).
For police officers and policy makers, this book sends a welcome message that the sky
will not fall if suspects are provided with substantial rights to legal and other services
while in custody. They should, perhaps, be more concerned about the private operators
who are performing functions which, not long ago, were reserved to public officers.
References
Dixon D (1997) Law in Policing: Legal Regulation and Police Practices. Oxford: Clarendon.
Dixon D (2011) Light and shadow: Comparative fieldwork in policing. In: Bartels L and Richards
K (eds) Qualitative Criminology. Sydney: Hawkins Press, pp.230–241.
McConville M, Leng R and Sanders A (1991) The Case for the Prosecution. London: Routledge.
David Dixon
Dean of Law, University of New South Wales
Larry Ray, Violence and Society, Sage Publications: London, 2011; 222 pp.: ISBN 9781847870353 (pbk)
Frequent interpersonal and collective physical violence has been a ubiquitous feature of
both past and recent human societies. The twentieth century was marked by extreme
violence that resulted in almost 200 million deaths from crime, wars and other armed
conflicts. This bloodshed was often associated with the collapse of imperial states and
related post-colonial struggles. Yet it is sobering to know that the greatest toll in human
life emanated from authoritarian regimes (typically Fascist, Stalinist or Maoist)
Book Reviews 281
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