Some of the thorniest issues facing a society arise at the intersection of law and psychology. Individuals’ responsibility for their actions, parental rights, imposition of the death penalty on persons with mental illnesses or developmental disabilities, and end-of-life decisions are just a few of the topics that draw on both disciplines. Scholarship, practice, and education in the interdisciplinary field of psychology and law have grown in recent years, but the development of supporting reference works has lagged behind. This alphabetically arranged encyclopedia goes a long way toward filling the void, with more than 300 entries related to criminal competencies, criminal responsibility, mental-health law, psychology of criminal behavior, psychology of policing and investigations, victim reactions to crime, and more. Criminal-justice topics represent a large proportion of the entries. The editor’s own research area—eyewitness identification—is more than adequately covered, with 52 entries ranging from Clothing bias in identification procedures to Stress and eyewitness memory. The introduction encourages readers to use the “Reader’s Guide,” which lists entries by theme. Although useful, the guide is sometimes duplicative—all but one of the entries listed in “Psychological and Forensic Assessment Instruments” are also included in “Forensic Assessment in Civil and Criminal Cases.” The themes do help the reader see familiar topics from different perspectives. For example, the entry on the Americans with Disabilities Act is assigned to the “Forensic Assessment in Civil and Criminal Cases” theme, since it examines the use of psychological evaluations in litigation related to disability. Entries vary in length from 1,000 to 3,000 words and include thorough see also references and suggestions for further reading. The latter generally list 5 or 6 sources, although some have only 1 and others may have 12 or 13. Sources include articles from law reviews and psychology journals, books, case citations, the DSM-IV, and reviews of assessment instruments. A comprehensive index completes the work, providing critical access points for persons, statutes, and court cases. Highly recommended for college, law-school, and large public libraries as well as practitioners. --Jan Lewis
This set is edited by Cutler (psychology, Univ. of North Carolina), who
already has to his credit other scholarly works on the growing field of
psychology and the law, including Mistaken Identification: The
Eyewitness, Psychology and the Law. The legal topics addressed here span
the major subdivisions of psychology-i.e., cognitive, developmental,
clinical, biological, and industrial/organizational. The 400 entries are
authored by a score of international contributors, range in length from
one to five pages, and are arranged alphabetically by topic. In the
introduction, readers are encouraged to use the Reader's Guide, which
arranges entries thematically-indeed, many entries appear in multiple
categories of the guide, and aspects of any given topic can range across
the two volumes. For example, the "Death Penalty" entry does not include
the same information found in the "Racial Bias and the Death Penalty"
entry. The text offers the occasional unnecessary observation, such as
the first sentence in the "Sex Offender Community Notification (Megan's
Laws)" entry: "Sexual assault is a serious problem of great concern."
Well, yes, absolutely, but we don't need this encyclopedia to tell us
that. BOTTOM LINE There is no other reference work on psychology and the
law, so libraries supporting curricula in this area may consider
purchasing. But because this field of study is still in its infancy, and
it remains to be seen whether it will grow into something major, this
set is otherwise an optional purchase for most libraries.
-Katherine Mossman, Everett P.L., WA
(Katherine Mossman
Library Journal )
