Customer Reviews

Investigating Religious Terrorism and Ritualistic Crimes

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Religious pluralism is increasingly alarming to the small-minded and xenophobic. Books like this just legitimize prejudiced, rascist and ignorant stereotypes.

Ritual crimes are "generally perpetrated by practitioners of occult belief systems including Satanism, syncretic belief systems (Santeria, Palo Mayombe, Brujeria) and the Vampire/Goth scene" ?

Excuse me? No, they are not. In what crazy moon universe do members of the absolute smallest of minorities commit the majority of crimes? Where are the numbers for this? If actual research were done on supposedly "ritualistic" crimes, one would discover that most of the "evidence" consists of the ignorant superstitions of the local law enforcement. Superstitions about their fellow human beings which are legitimized and perpetuated by irresponsible books like this. And completely mundane crimes (if crimes can indeed ever be called "mundane,") are labeled "santeria" motivated or "Satanic" because of the race or culture of the people involved.

Does Perlmutter have any credentials at all, besides being an ART HISTORY professor, and being part of a LIMITED LIABILITY CORPORATION that calls itself a research foundation on religious violence? This is spurious academics, people. For those who may not know, an LLC is a for-profit personal corporation which can (and usually does) consist of only one person. Calling your corporation a "foundation" makes it look like a research institution, but it doesn't fool those of us with enough intelligence to tell the difference between useful law enforcement information and dangerous muckracking.

It is very scary to think that law enforcement workers might put some stock in this collection of Midwestern prejudice. Instead of providing useful information on how to tell the difference between criminals motivated by religious themes and legitimate religious practitioners, we get indiscriminate profiling.

The Goth subculture is not a recruiting ground for cults. The Christian superculture IS, however, and how often do prejudiced accounts like this one address that? Campus Crusade for Christ, anyone? How often do self-advancing blowhards have to beat the "goth is going to get us all" horse before they realize that it's dead? Of course, since they haven't stopped beating the racism horse, I suppose it could be a very long time.

In the 21st Century, when the Satanic Panic of the 1980's has been proven to have been complete bunk, when we now know that not a SINGLE child is known to ever have been kidnapped for ritualistic crime purposes, then or now, and when we have preservered, despite the "fact" that Ozzy Osbourne was going to get our kids to kill themselves by the thousands and Twisted Sister was leading our kids to Satan, maybe we should stop blaming minority subcultures for the failings of the mainstream to teach people to distinguish stereotype from reality.

You think?

Dawn Perlmutter, a former Professor of Art, and NYU graduate typifies
the CSI effect whereby dilettantes believe themselves to be Crime
Scene Investigators and Forensic Scientists because they will themselves
to be and they see a commercial and salutory opening to advance themselves in a heretofore uncluttered niche (thus the basis for why
forensic science specialties and subspecialties have clamped down
on 'amateurism' and instituted stricter testing and licensing requirements for forensic practices in crime labs, police departments
and medical examiner's offices).

This book (why on Earth would CRC agree to publish such
rubbish ?) demonstrates a facile, dilettantish, non-scientific
and less-than-cosmopolitan understanding of ritualized criminal
activity, whether psycopathic, religious-based, geopolitical or
merely opportunistic. This book might be worthwhile as a textbook
for an elective or non-majors humanities department course in the art
or symbolism of criminal activity, but it falsely purports to have
any use as a forensic or criminological tool in the understanding of
ritualized behavior that may lead to murder of any scale. You
are far better off reading the published work and books by
forensic psychologist Eric Hickey, or the legion of trained
FBI, state crime lab and other specialized forensic scientists
and forensic psychologists who have ACTUAL scientific grounding
in the area of ritualized criminal behavior.

I've just finished my first reading of Dr. Perlmutter's fresh work. The text is offered with the conviction that "understanding the religious beliefs, ethics and ritual practices of unfamiliar religions is imperative to preventing future acts of violence." I sense my socio-cultural paradigm has shifted since reading this book. And I hope that my personal baby-steps toward a more careful handling of the involved issues can serve to further future prevention of violence in some way.

While it is true that this book was written by a woman who is principally an academic, it's also true the research that went into it involved a great deal of field work and contact with law enforcement, victims and true believers themselves.

Groups covered include various millenial religions, domestic terrorism groups (many of which mix component forms of Christian/pagan religious expression with extreme racial theories), international terrorist groups with an emphasis on violent Islamic groups, various Satanist groups, Vampirism, and syncretic belief systems such as Santeria and Voodoo. Dr. Perlmutter then addresses various intelligence strategies for maximizing the public benefit of an informed investigative approach. The book is also a wealth of resources for gaining additional information. This dynamic field of study is difficult to set in print as though it were some sort of unchanging holy text, and the author acknowledges ongoing development.

The book is not alarmist, but does raise concerns. Crimes incidental to the practice of ritual violence covered in the book range from mild trespassing and littering issues through threats and assaults to violent crimes against persons including homicide. The cases are well-documented and photographs and illustrations are plentiful. This is not a coffee-table book; the photographs and symbols (germane to the topic, always) can be unpleasant. While there are those who find any expression of intolerance to be small-minded, social intolerance of crime - especially violent crime - is both sensible and lawful. One man's xenophobia is another man's kidnapping and cannibalism.

While the author's initial area of academic expertise was art symbolism and religious art, she has become an expert in the related field of physical evidence of ritual violence. For many practitioners of violent religious expression I suppose, their holy places are superior to the best available sacred art. Her book has grown out of her law enforcement consulting experiences, not the other way around. And, as a law enforcement professional, I'm glad she published it.

Dr. Perlmutter provides a remarkably complete volume on the subject of ritualisitc crime & religious terrorism. Her work is most current and is interesting for many audiences - criminal investigators, students, scholars and those who wish to read for knowledge. The book is enlightening and alarming.