Lois Gibson, ,Forensic Art Essentials — A Manual for Law Enforcement Artists (2008) Academic...

science to be found within the book is limited. The majority of thebook focuses upon the detail of the crimes, what was told to the policeor courts by witnesses, and how technology assisted in bringingoffenders to justice. The epilogue to the book contains a briefdiscussion as to the pros and cons of keeping a DNA database, andpoints out that the technology can bring— “a guilty man convicted, aninnocent man walks free”. The book is supplemented by a four pageglossary of mainly scientific terms which are explained in non-scientific language for the general reader.

This book is a “real-life” crime book and is worthwhile reading toobtain an insight into the use of science in detecting crime.

Robert Whitehouse

doi:10.1016/j.scijus.2009.01.005

Forensic Art Essentials — A Manual for Law Enforcement Artists,Lois Gibson, 2008, Academic Press, Elsevier.

This book covers many disciplines within the field of forensic art,including composite art, interviewing witnesses, age progression,facial reconstruction and post-mortem portraits. It includes hundredsof illustrations alongside examples of the author's case work, whilstoffering advice to practising forensic artists on how to followstandards of procedure, practice and behaviour.

The author is clearly accomplished, experienced and confident asan artist and interviewer and I am sure that some of the chapterson composite drawing will be useful to professionals working inthis field. However, I found this book sensationalist, and there areelements that inexperienced practitioners may find confusing. Whilst

the demonstration of a variety of practitioner scenarios is commend-able, it is not necessary to detail every violent crime, and the inclusionof some images without good reason, such as the unidentified childwho starved to death, is questionable. The inclusion of such a largenumber of cases in this way trivialises the responsibility of the forensicpractitioner to the victims, their families and the individuals involvedin each case, presenting the author in an unfavourable light.

The chapters on age progression, post-mortem depiction and facialreconstruction owe much to previous texts, not least in the inclusionof the author's sketches of images from these books, presumably tocircumvent copyright laws. This seems a bizarre decision, especially asthe use of the original images is often crucial, such as when showingante-mortem photographs for comparisonwith facial reconstructions.The author frequently utilises anecdotal evidence, the science-basedsections are vague and simplistic, and she suggests some techniquesthat contradict current academic research in the field, such as inter-viewing multiple witnesses simultaneously.

The section by Gloria Nusse on skull casting is like an oasis of calmin an otherwise scatalogical text. This section is very thorough andeasy to follow, with clear step-by-step guidelines.

In summary, parts of this book will be useful to practitioners, but itwill not do any favours to the reputation of forensic art as a discipline.

Caroline WilkinsonUniversity of Dundee, United Kingdom

doi:10.1016/j.scijus.2009.01.004

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