Recent Book: “The Downfall of the Working Classes”: Alcohol and Alcoholism, the Police Role in Alcohol-Related Crises
| Date | 01 January 1980 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8005300127 |
| Published date | 01 January 1980 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
will resist the dissolving
action
of
sulphuric acid.
From
this small
beginning a case was built up. Haigh
was hanged for his crimes.
"Post-Mortem
Procedures" describes
the step-by-step procedures of the
examination
of a dead body.
Though
this
book
was intended as a text
book
for
post-mortem
technicians. it can be
confidently recommended to every police
officer who is likely to come in
contact
with a dead body.
There
are some details such as the care
of the post-mortem
room
and the
cleaning of instruments and health
precautions. which at first sight may
seem
unimportant
to the police officer.
However. it is always helpful to know
why the technician regards himself as the
king to
whom
due homage must be paid
in the form of
apparently
meaningless
ritual. Dead bodies can be a source of
infection and part of the technician's
job
is to protect visitors from becoming
victims of TB.
Tetanus
and
other
bacterial infections.
There
are
short
sections on
coroners'
cases.
deaths
of infants. accidental
deaths. suicides. homicides and autopsies
on
exhumed
bodies.
Naturally there are many technical
terms. some of these are explained in the
glossary. An unusual feature of the
book
is the provision of
chapter
summaries
which provide acondensed revision
course.
There
is also agood bibliography
and a comprehensive index.
My one criticism is
that
some of the
photographs
are separated from the
relative text by several pages and one is
continually
turning
backwards and
forwards.
Apart
from this. this book can
be highly recommended as reading for
coroners
officers. SO
CO's
and also
police surgeons in need of revision.
TREVOR
ZUTSHI
"THE
DOWNFALL
OF
THE
WORKING
CLASSES"
THE
R
EPORTOF
A S
PEnAL
COMMITTEE
OFTHE
ROYALCOI.IEGEOFPSYCHIATRISTS:
Alcohol
and
Alcoholism.
Travistock Publications Ltd. £5.95
Hardback
£1.95 Paperback
and
GERALD
W. G AR'OER. MA: The Police Role in Alcohol-Related Crises.
Charles C.
Thomas
$12.75
Anyone wishing to understand the before this stage is reached) and public
problem
of alcohol abuse
and
current
and private
attitudes
to it should reflect
knowledge of its scope. causality and this unpleasant and
awkward
fact.
treatment
would do well to consult this
Treatment
methods
are
briefly
informative
Royal
College
of
reviewed but. whilst offering hope to
Psychiatrists' report. The
authors
do not individual victims, improved
treatment
avoid the difficult
questions(for
example
facilities must not, the
report
argues,
whether alcoholism is a 'disease')
nor
do
constitute the
total
national strategy -
they deny
areas
of
doubt.
but
they do
Government
should address itself
extricate
themselves
with
sound
primarily to the larger issue of
com~onsense
.from
the
unresolved prevention.
The
authors
conclude their
medical and philosophical problems to painstaking analysis by outlining such a
make practical
recommendations
to
programme
of suggested
Government
Governments.
organizations
and
action
and
code
for
community
and
individuals. personal practice, includingadvice on the
The report emphasises the vast
human
upper
limits of 'safe' drinking.
and
economic cost of alcohol abuse and
The
report. though clear-eyed
about
attacks the cosy
assumption
that
the the
extent
to which alcohol use is woven
incidence of alcohol related disabilities into the economic and social fabric of the
- social and
emotional
as well as western world,
performs
the timely
physical - is
somehow
unrelated to service of proclaiming
our
individual
everyday
drinking
habits.
Time
and
responsibility
for
its
cumulative
again the
authors
stress
that
an increase consequences.
in average per
capita
consumption
will be Responsibility is likewise the theme of
accompanied by an escalation in casualty the American text examining the police
rates
and
are
therefore
cautious
about
role in alcohol related crises. In this case
even
minor
relaxations of the formal the responsibilities
under
scrutiny
are
controls
embodied in
our
licensing laws those of the police officer
confronted
by
and
approve
the
continued
control
an incident involving or complicated by
exercised via revenue policies. drink.
Alcohol, they insist, is a
drug
of The first
part
of the
book
which
dependence
(though
damage
to health provides 'a
background
of alcohol and
and social functioning may be extensive alcohol abuse' carries substantially the
94 Police Journal January 1980
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