Firearms
and Violence A Critical Review
Authors: Charles
F. Wellford, John V. Pepper, and Carol V. Petrie, Editors, Committee on Law and Justice, National Research Council
ISBN:
0309091241
Publishers:
National Research Council
Price
$43.16
Publication
Date: 2004
For
years proposals for gun control and the ownership of firearms have been among
the most contentious issues in American politics. For public authorities to
make reasonable decisions on these matters, they must take into account facts
about the relationship between guns and violence as well as conflicting
constitutional claims and divided public opinion. In performing these tasks,
legislators need adequate data and research to judge both the effects of
firearms on violence and the effects of different violence control policies.
Readers
of the research literature on firearms may sometimes find themselves unable to
distinguish scholarship from advocacy. Given the importance of this issue,
there is a pressing need for a clear and unbiased assessment of the existing
portfolio of data and research.
Firearms and Violence uses conventional standards of science to examine
three major themes - firearms and violence, the quality of research, and the
quality of data available. The book assesses the strengths and limitations of
current databases, examining current research studies on firearm use and the
efforts to reduce unjustified firearm use and suggests ways in which they can
be improved.
Reviewer Wanted
Would you be interested in
reviewing this book? (The Book Above) If you are interested in providing a
review in about 600/800 words within 3 months then please contact me by e-mail
at robjerrard@aol.com providing a small
CV and your interest in this particular book.
For an indication of what is
required please see this site, which contains hundreds of examples.
"Internet Law book Reviews" welcomes all categories of reviewers.
Fairness
and Effectiveness in Policing - The Evidence
Author:
Wesley Skoan & Kathleen Frydl Editors
ISBN:
039084334
Publishers:
The National Academies Press (USA)
Price
£35.95 hardback
Publication
Date: May 2004
Because
police are the most visible face of government power for most people, they are
expected to deal effectively with crime and disorder and to be impartial,
producing justice through the fair, and restrained use of their authority. The standards by which the public judges
police success have become more exacting and challenging.
Fairness
and Effectiveness in Policing explores police work in the new century. It replaces myths with research findings and
provides recommendations for updated policy and practices to guide it. It explores the most basic questions and
reviews how police work is organised, explores the expanding responsibilities
of police, the increasing diversity among police employees, and discusses the
complex interactions between officers and the public.
This
book also addresses community policing, use of force, racial profiling, and
evaluates the success of common police techniques, such as focusing on crime
"hot spots." It goes on to
look at the issue of legitimacy-how the public gets information about police
work, and how police are viewed by different groups, and how police can gain
community trust.
FULL Review to follow on this other book, below
Forensic
Analysis: Weighing Bullet Lead Evidence
Since
the 1960s, testimony by representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
in thousands of criminal cases has relied on evidence from Compositional
Analysis of Bullet Lead (CABL), a forensic technique that compares the
elemental composition of bullets found at a crime scene to the elemental
composition of bullets found in a suspect s possession. Different from
ballistics techniques that compare striations on the barrel of a gun to those
on a recovered bullet, CABL is used when no gun is recovered or when bullets
are too small or mangled to observe striations. Forensic Analysis: Weighing
Bullet Lead Evidence assesses the scientific validity of CABL, finding that the
FBI should use a different statistical analysis for the technique and that,
given variations in bullet manufacturing processes, expert witnesses should
make clear the very limited conclusions that CABL results can support. The
report also recommends that the FBI take additional measures to ensure the
validity of CABL results, which include improving documentation, publishing
details, and improving on training and oversight.