BOOK REVIEWS

ETHICS, ETHOS AND THE VOICE OF CONSCIENCE

Ethics in Forensic Science and Medicine, Guidelines for the Forensic Expert and the Attorney Edited by Melvin ShifSman, MD,JD (Charles C Thomas, Springfield, IL, 1999, 305pp, index, ISBN 0 398 07024 5; $62.95)

The very first thing to say about this book is that all its contributors and its editors are American and it relates wholly to the American Legal System. However this does not automatically make its contents irrelevant to the UK or any other legal system. It contains a great deal of sound basic concepts which relate to the use of expert witnesses in the courts of law, their contribution to the judicial system and their behaviour in such a system.

As its title depicts it is written for the guidance of both attorneys and experts within a judicial system. It must be said that in UK. parlance it concentrates heavily on the medico-legal expert and other forensic scientists get a much briefer mention. However the ethics of how experts should work and relate within the judicial system does have general applicability

Towards the end the book deals at some length with the 0.J.Simpson case and sets out the efforts and short comings of both sides in their handling of the case.

Whilst the book is an interesting read it is more useful to the attorneyladvocate and the budding expert in bringing to them the codes of conduct to which they should adhere and the potential pitfalls if they do not. A useful book to dip into rather than read from cover to cover.

It was sad to see a mistake in the units used at one point which detracted from the otherwise thorough and detailed approach to the subject.

VJ Emerson

IDIOSYNCRATIC OVERVIEW Criminal Profiling Brent Tuwey (Academic Press, London, 1999, 462pp, index, ISBN 01 2705040X; £53.00)

This book was written almost entirely by Brent Turvey together with a (very) little help from his friends; four in all. Three provided a chapter each, and the fourth colleague's offering was included in the appendices. One of the contributors, Dr Diana Tamlyn provided a UK perspective in what is otherwise a very American work, which elaborates a disappointingly idiosyncratic overview of profiling.

The idiosyncrasy is partly attributable to the main author's differentiation of offender profiling into two categories, inductive and deductive. He states that inductive reasoning can be described as a comparative, correlational and/or

statistical process reliant upon subjective expertise. On the other hand, he describes deductive profiling, as a forensic- evidence-based, process-oriented, method of investigative reasoning about the behaviour patterns of a particular offender. Turvey states that he favours deductive profiling rather than inductive, but I am not convinced that this way of categorising profiling methodology has any validity.

My understanding of deductive reasoning is that it involves premises that provide conclusive support for any conclusion. If the premises in a valid argument are true, then so must the conclusion be. On the other hand, inductive reasoning results in a conclusion, which is defined as likely or probable, but never as a certainty, because the conclusion goes beyond the information contained in the premises. An inductive argument is justified when its premises, if assumed true, lend its conclusions a high degree of probability. As offender profiling involves the prediction of offender characteristics from offence behaviour, the results should only be expressed in the language of probability. Therefore it would seem to be an inductive process.

One of the present difficulties with profiling is the lack of available information for constructing relevant, numerically adequate and thorough premises. Turvey is apparently aware of this, but he still tends to dismiss induction on the grounds that many practitioners are working with inadequate evidence and therefore producing unjustified conclusions. This is not a valid criticism of the inductive method. It is an indictment of the way that he perceives it as being carried out.

He also appears to suggests that statistics have not been useful in profiling. This is not typical of the British experience. Some of the more successful profiles in the UK have been based on population statistics originating from a database held by Derbyshire police, which contains comprehensive details of child murders and abductions occurring in the UK during the last forty years. Providing they fulfil certain criteria, population base rates are a sound basis for making inferences, particularly in the absence of more specific diagnostic information.

As well as the confusion caused by the explanations of the deductive/inductive dichotomy, the text is also marred by a tendency to other convoluted explanations, sometimes accompanied by a rather peculiar use of English grammar and phrasing. There is little that is new, and the theoretical basis for Turvey's profiling methods appears to owe much to the behavioural scientists from the FBI Academy and their research collaborators. The following quotes epitomise much about the book and the main author.

Page xv: "The truth is I didn't choose this work. It chose me."

Science & Justice 2000; 40(1): 290-296

Book Reviews

Page 122: "The discrimination of a number of the crime scene characteristics reviewed here is owed in no small part to practical Aspects of Rape Investigation: A Multidisciplinary Approach (Burgess and Hazelwood 1995). These are so noted when they occur. However, the author has expanded on this framework significantly and has covered the characteristics in a different manner."

Page 182: "Credit should be given to Burgess et al. (1997), Cleckley (1976), Geberth (1996), Groth (1979) Hare (1993), and Burgess and Hazelwood (1995) for their published works in this area as they have assisted the author's developments of the concepts in this chapter."

On page xxviii the author talks of ego-based disagreements in the profiling community. Then, during the course of the book he is critical of a number of profilers, including Canter (UK), Douglas (FBI), and Rossmo (Canada), all of whom have made significant and original contributions to the published research on the subject. This seems rather uncharitable, and it tends to confirm other indications that this is a very personal account of profiling, despite the outward appearance of an academic text.

As the quoted passages indicate, the book contains much reworked material, although it is to the author's credit that he acknowledges his sources. There are also some lurid photographs; and case histories that ostensibly contain little that is instructive. It is unfortunate that the book may contribute to a growing perception that offender profiling is merely an eccentric aberration in the investigation of crime, entertaining to the voyeur, but of little relevance to the police. In fact, if profiling is progressed with scientific rigour, it has the potential to harness the social sciences as an integral part of the investigative process in a way that complements and enhances the use of forensic science. As the author points out, a more co-ordinated approach to crime scene reconstruction would undoubtedly benefit profiling. Incidentally, it would also improve the retrieval of forensic evidence.

Anne Davies "GEE, OFFICER KRUPKE.. ."

The Social Psychology of Crime D Canter and L Alison, eds. (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, Aldershot, 1999, 334pp, ISBN I 84014 497 1; £55.00 (hardback); £19.50 (paperback))

This collection of articles is written from the perspective of the police investigator, a welcome change from the pure academic viewpoint of most books in Social Psychology. While this outlook should be quite congenial to forensic scientists, the book's approach will be quite foreign to most.

is made of the specific aspects of criminal group that differentiate them from others. Thus, for example, criminal groups need to maintain a high level of secrecy, and they cannot turn to non-criminal institutions such as the police and the courts to deal with internal conflict.

Almost half the book (chapters 3, 6-8) somewhat heavy- handedly uses various techniques to map the structure of groups on such dimensions as communication networks and role differentiation within the group. Some related these findings to previous convictions of each person. Chapter 3 provides a general background. Chapter 6 deals with football hooligan groups, Chapter 7 with ram raiding, theft from commercial business by ramming an opening with a vehicle. Chapter 8 analyses robber groups.

As part of a series of books on offender profiling, these analyses purport to provide leads on tracking down specific offenders. Unfortunately, the very dynamics of groups may limit the usefulness of group analysis for this purpose. Group norms put limits on idiosyncratic individual behavior, the very clues that can be particularly useful for tracking down a culprit. There is some use to know that one of the culprits in a robbery is likely to have a history of convictions associated with violence. However, the demands required of his role within the team of robbers may very well have prevented that culprit from displaying the sort of violent behavior that would distinguish him from other criminals with a record of violence. The book, indeed, fails to provide concrete examples of how the mapping of criminal groups has actually aided police investigators.

Chapters of the book do refer to another potential use of group analysis, pinpointing group members most likely to inform on their colleagues. They note in general that the most likely informants are on the group's periphery, with the least useful information. On the other hand, they note the potential of discovering someone once central who is being pushed more to the periphery. Such a person might combine the motivation to jump ship with possession of highly useful evidence.

On the other hand, these and other chapters point to a totally different use for group analysis, quite outside forensic experience. Rather than seeking to provide the evidence for gaining convictions in court, many articles note the usefulness to the police of the analyses if the police seek to disrupt the activities of a group, or even destroy it. Chapter 10 focuses specifically on this goal. This conceivably be accomplished by arresting and prosecuting key group members, or by introducing misinformation.

The book is based on the premise that principles of Social The book, again, is in general, lacking examples of Psychology that have been formulated by studying non- successful applications to group disruption and destruction. criminal groups can be applied successfully to the analysis One author notes that groups sometimes display of criminals. The book provides ample evidence of the considerable resilience in the face of adversity. Two note fruitfulness of this assumption. On the other hand, mention the resource limitations of the police that make it difficult to

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