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Current Perspectives in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Behavior
Featuring ten new articles by experts in the field, this up-to-date reader emphasizes the ways that forensic psychologists apply psychological knowledge, concepts, and principles on a day-to-day basis. Drawing on cutting-edge research to demonstrate the ways that forensic psychology has contributed to the understanding of criminal behavior and crime prevention, the Third Edition addresses key topics in each of the five major subareas of the field—police psychology, legal psychology, the psychology of crime and delinquency, victimology and victim services, and correctional psychology.
- GenresPsychology
344 pages, Paperback
First published November 9, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 26, 2015
Bartol and Bartol have written numerous textbooks in the domain of forensic psychology, previously emphasizing criminal behavior more than other areas of psychology and the law. However, Current Perspectives in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Behavior covers a plethora of relevant topics. Notably, this is a text reader (i.e., a collection of edited, previously reported articles, as clearly stated in the description). The book is a wonderful supplement to Bartol and Bartol's "Psychology and Law--Research and Practice" (Sage, 2015). The two cover similar topics, and the textbook provides a greater degree of background and conceptualization.
Articles in Current Perspectives are from a variety of respected, peer-reviewed sources including Current Directions in Psychological Science; Criminal Justice and Behavior; Psychological Science and others. Bartol and Bartol (editors) did an excellent job of selecting articles that provide readers with a general understanding of the field but also lets them see where the field currently is at and is heading. They were effective in editing most of the articles in such a way that it reduces extraneous literature reviews or heavy statistical discussions to be more useful to readers without strong backgrounds in statistics. Many of the articles chosen were review articles themselves, so they provide the reader with a good overview of topics.
Some of the readings are general, such as Skeem and Monahan's "Current Directions in Risk Assessment" (Chapter 15), while others cover findings from specific studies (e.g., Babschishin et al. [2011] on "The Characteristics of Online Sex Offenders"). I am impressed with the breadth of topics in the book. These include chapters/articles covering eyewitness memory, jury decision making, risk assessment, and even graduate school in the field of psychology and the law. While the breadth is strong, as with many text readers the depth is lacking. Many of the chapters could likely stand alone in a class, but others do not provide the reader with the conceptual background to fully understand the topic at hand. If used in a classroom, this would require either a text supplement or some lecture to provide background information. However, for the casual reader who wants to use this text for a greater understanding of the field, that context might not be provided.
Bartol and Bartol do provide commentary prior to each section, but it is often light and basic. I do not envy them in chapter selection--it can be a daunting task to locate representative works from various areas within a field, much less to find works that can be understood without context. The cautious editing of the individual pieces means sacrificing some depth to include more breadth. Moreover, the academic literature is not written like a textbook. The intended audience of scholarly work is different from the intended audience of a textbook or a text reader, meaning that editors have to search even harder to find representative works that provide enough understanding without the context of a typical scholar in the field.
With that in mind, Bartol and Bartol did a great job. I would have appreciated more thoughtful commentary between sections, but they might have had publishing page limits to consider, particularly since such a book is highly unlikely to be assigned in a given college course.
For the casual reader, you can find many of these articles available online and might want to consider reading the original sources. Readers like this exist because it is often easier to assign previously screened articles than to walk students through downloading and reading the original sources. Many students prefer the former, as well.
Articles in Current Perspectives are from a variety of respected, peer-reviewed sources including Current Directions in Psychological Science; Criminal Justice and Behavior; Psychological Science and others. Bartol and Bartol (editors) did an excellent job of selecting articles that provide readers with a general understanding of the field but also lets them see where the field currently is at and is heading. They were effective in editing most of the articles in such a way that it reduces extraneous literature reviews or heavy statistical discussions to be more useful to readers without strong backgrounds in statistics. Many of the articles chosen were review articles themselves, so they provide the reader with a good overview of topics.
Some of the readings are general, such as Skeem and Monahan's "Current Directions in Risk Assessment" (Chapter 15), while others cover findings from specific studies (e.g., Babschishin et al. [2011] on "The Characteristics of Online Sex Offenders"). I am impressed with the breadth of topics in the book. These include chapters/articles covering eyewitness memory, jury decision making, risk assessment, and even graduate school in the field of psychology and the law. While the breadth is strong, as with many text readers the depth is lacking. Many of the chapters could likely stand alone in a class, but others do not provide the reader with the conceptual background to fully understand the topic at hand. If used in a classroom, this would require either a text supplement or some lecture to provide background information. However, for the casual reader who wants to use this text for a greater understanding of the field, that context might not be provided.
Bartol and Bartol do provide commentary prior to each section, but it is often light and basic. I do not envy them in chapter selection--it can be a daunting task to locate representative works from various areas within a field, much less to find works that can be understood without context. The cautious editing of the individual pieces means sacrificing some depth to include more breadth. Moreover, the academic literature is not written like a textbook. The intended audience of scholarly work is different from the intended audience of a textbook or a text reader, meaning that editors have to search even harder to find representative works that provide enough understanding without the context of a typical scholar in the field.
With that in mind, Bartol and Bartol did a great job. I would have appreciated more thoughtful commentary between sections, but they might have had publishing page limits to consider, particularly since such a book is highly unlikely to be assigned in a given college course.
For the casual reader, you can find many of these articles available online and might want to consider reading the original sources. Readers like this exist because it is often easier to assign previously screened articles than to walk students through downloading and reading the original sources. Many students prefer the former, as well.
June 23, 2012
It wasn't a bad read. Packed with a lot of information, but I found it was all so generalized. Good book if you want to learn a little about a lot of different aspects.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews