Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

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 Journ