Just Finished Reading: Forensic Psychology – A Very Short Introduction by David Canter

This was the last of 5 VSI books I borrowed off CQ a few months ago. Following on from the volume on Forensic Science this book moves into the comparatively recent area of Forensic Psychology. As the author points out, when this subject is brought up thought inevitably turn to criminal profiling and (even more inevitably) Serial Killers. Despite the fact that the author is responsible for developing the art of offender profiling in the UK he pours a considerable amount of cold water on the more lurid claims for such a process often seen in newspaper reports and TV crime shows. Of course if criminal – and potentially criminal – profiling was as good as some people would evidently like it to be we’d be in an era of ‘pre-crime’ law enforcement. Let’s hope that we never slip into that particular dystopia.

Anyway, rather than concentrating on the exotic and frankly far-fetched aspects of forensic psychology this book outlines the work that experts in this field actually do. Probably the most basic and most important is to understand how criminals are made in the first place. If we can understand what circumstances gives rise to criminal behaviours we might be able to intervene before this happens and prevent crime at its roots. It’s a tall order however which is probably why we haven’t cracked that particular nut yet. On a more day to day basis forensic psychologists give a lot of evidence in court especially around the area of determining the sanity of the defendant and their competence to stand trail. They can also give expert testimony regarding various aspects of the case which enables juries to arrive at better decisions. Likewise they can work with offenders both during the court process and afterwards in institutions to both aid them in coming to terms with incarceration and to enable them to re-engage with society more effectively once they leave. They also work with law enforcement agencies, both helping them understand the criminals they are seeking and helping officers to detect deception once they are caught.

Although fairly interesting I did find this book to be a bit too dry and rather academic for my liking. Despite the fact that it managed to cover a lot of ground quite well it still left me largely unengaged. Maybe I was just expecting it to be a bit more exotic. The author certainly managed to disabuse me of that particular notion so I suppose he did his job well enough. Over all a reasonable read.