Offender profiling has been developing slowly as a possible investigative tool since 1841 and the publication of Edgar Allen Poe's The Murder in the Rue Morgue. In this book, detective C. Auguste Dupin demonstrates the ability to follow the thought patterns of a companion while they stroll through Paris for 15 minutes without speaking a word. Today profiling is an important investigative tool. Nevertheless, it often represents a less than educated attempt to provide law enforcement agencies with detailed information about the behavior of an unknown individual who has committed a crime. Criminal Psychology and Forensic Technology: A Collaborative Approach to Effective Profiling introduces alternative approaches to improving the way crimes are investigated and offender profiles are generated. It shows forensic evidence experts how to work with profilers to combine discrete data into a more meaningful picture.

Forensic psychologists and psychiatrists are increasingly asked to provide expertise to courts and attorneys in the criminal justice system. To do so effectively, they must stay abreast of important advances in the understanding of legal standards as well as new developments in sophisticated measures and the methods for their assessment. Fundamentals of Forensic Practice is designed to address the critical issues that are faced by mental health experts in their role of conducting assessments, presenting findings, and preparing for challenges to admissibility and credibility.

Despite its title and subtitle, this book is really a chronicle of some of Dr. Bill Bass's professional experiences in the world of forensic science. In recounting these fascinating stories, Dr. Bass, an anthropologist, briefly explains how the idea of the Body Farm was conceived and how that facility evolved into reality. Some of the scientific research that takes place within the Body Farm is described but not belabored; it is made clear that the Body Farm is an important scientific tool (one of many) that is used in solving crimes. Consequently, most of the book is comprised of gripping descriptions of some of the cases in which Dr. Bass has been involved and in which he used everything he could in his forensic science armory to solve them, including the Body Farm. Also included in this book are a few tragic episodes that have occurred in Dr. Bass's personal life. The writing style is friendly, lively, authoritative, accessible and quite engaging. This is a book that can be enjoyed by anyone, although those fascinated by true crime and forensic science would likely relish it the most.

A husband preserved in mothballs, a vigilante victim encased in red mud, and convicts beaten and burned in a prison riot are only a few of the cases of death examined here by forensic anthropologist Stanley Rhine. Drawing on cases he worked for the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, Rhine demonstrates how unidentified skeletal remains indicate race, sex, age, height, and ultimately identity and how the specialist decodes skeletal anomalies to establish cause of death. Blunt trauma, gunshot and knife wounds, and other injuries receive his attention.
Step by step the author explains the techniques used to solve forensic mysteries. At the end of each case, he explains what lessons the forensic anthropologist learns from the bones. Rhine also explores specific problems and tasks: working mass disasters; recovering bodies from the field; defleshing bones; examining charred and badly decomposed remains; testifying before juries; and others.

Introduction to Forensic Psychology, Second Edition is an original approach to understanding how psychologists impact the research, practice, and policy of crime, law, and justice. Divided into four sections on criminal forensics, civil forensics, policing and law enforcement, and corrections and prison practices, the text examines police, court, and correctional aspects of forensic psychology. Each of the twelve chapters are organized around relevant case illustrations, include comprehensive literature reviews, and discuss policy implications and avenues of future research. Each chapter additionally incorporates research on race, gender, and class, as well as including a practice update, highlighting a timely issue or controversy.