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19 Med. Sci. & L. 215 (1979)
Psychopathic Behaviour: Approaches to Research

handle is hein.journals/mdsclw19 and id is 215 raw text is: Med. Sci. Law (1979) Vol. 19, No. 3 Printed in Great Britain 215 Book Reviews NyYchology and the Legal Process. Edited by B. D. Sales. 155 X 225 mm. 291 pp. Not illustrated. 1977. New York, Spectrum Publications. £14. This is a scholarly series of papers written by American Pschologists and lawyers about the American legal Process. It is of academic value to British criminol- ogists and psychologists, but of no practical relevance to British prison psychologists. The useful references at the end of each of the fifteen chapers are almost exclusively American. After chapter 1 which gives a historical introduction, section II is entitled 'Issues in the Jury and Trial Pro- ceses' Chapter 2 on psychological research into SPecialized aspects of trials is a useful source of refer- enle for academics interested in such areas as pre- judice against criminals amongst jurors, the effect of Pre-trial publicity on jurors and the attractiveness of the Offender as a factor in jurors' decision making. Research on videotape on criminal proceedings is pre- Sented by Farmer et al. in chapter 4; chapter 5 des- cfbes a study of over 800 New York jurors, selected stdr 'voir dire' examination, for an experimental Study of 12 v. 6 member juries under unanimous v. 0-unanimous decisions. Section III is of greater interest to psychologists. It p concerned with 'Issues in Criminal and Correctional choesses'. The most interesting chapter in this book, acter 9, by the late Professor Levine on ' The C04cept of Dangerousness', is based on his work at ambridge in 1975, and reviews both English and A erican literature on the problem of detaining the Violent offender and the right of appeal. The chapter contains a review of Kozol's (1972) work on the idgewater Centre for Violent Offenders, USA and ggests that in evaluating special regimes the criterion sereconviction is insufficient. Other topics in this cUion are parole (chapter 7) by Berman, which dis- seCsses the role of race in American ex-prisoners' sterchfor employment, and children's conception of Iitenti tel Onality (chapter 8) by Keasey and Sales, which AL heavily on Piaget's work and integrates primarily chlrican literature on the subject in a very thorough ali Pter. Fenster (chapter 6) presents police person- and studies of police intelligence levels, and ati (chapter 10) discusses philosophic consider- das Concerning punishment on sentencing and fUl al decision making. All these chapters have use- for rhferences to American publications and law cases the specialized reader. PT be final section of the book is about 'Policy and essional Issues', beginning with Monahan on hunity psychology and policy information. li'itzgebels' following chapter on 'Federal Regu- tion of Psychological Devices' is interesting in that it discusses the role of the Food and Drug Adminis- tration (FDA) in stating (via the Panel on Review of Neurological Devices) that aversive conditioning equipment should have on it a warning that it should only be used in consultation with a physician, if it is used in the treatment of a disease. 'Is homosexuality or shoplifting a disease?' he asks and concludes that psychologists should have the freedom to collaborate fully with other professionals in this field. Other issues in this section are the role of the psychologist in child custody cases by Woody, and Brodsky's final chapter on a survival guide for the mental health professional in the witness stand, which involves thirteen useful suggestions for coping with cross-examinations, such as careful use of expert knowledge, honesty, careful listening to the questions and care not to be rushed into giving an unwise response. This chapter is of inter- national value, although psychologists are unfortu- nately not required to appear as expert witnesses very often in England, the request usually being for a psychiatrist's report. In spite of the thorough and high academic standard of this book, which is edited by the President of the American Psychology Law Association, it is not easy to read owing to its verbose style and the omission of many stimulating topics. A chapter on women's crime and correctional procedures appropriate to women would have been well received, as would special topics such as the legal aspects of alcoholism, drug addiction and the psychological aspects of coroner's work. However, it is a useful reference book on psychology and American law for any university library. BARBARA STEVENS Psychopathic Behaviour: Approaches to Research. Edited by R. D. Hare and D. Schalling. 396 pp. 1978. Chichester, John Wiley. This book is divided into twenty chapters, each having an author, or authors of its own, dealing exclusively with one aspect of research or another, and ending with a plethora of references. The epilogue to the twentieth chapter could form an apposite epilogue for any of the previous ones: 'Having reviewed the mass of highly diverse and complicated literature what con- clusions can we draw? Aside from the usual pious calls for more research, more rigorous research, long range research and so on, we are left with few nuggets of reasonably reliable fact'-and 'rands' would be more symbolically correct than nuggets. Psychopathic behaviour is the overt manifestation of psychopathic disorder (or of a so-called psychopathic personality) and over the years has caused much vex-

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