An uneven but well-documented mix of forensic science, narrative nonfiction and criminal psychology.
Important developments in 19th-century forensics and criminal justice are interwoven with the killing spree of French serial killer Joseph Vasher.
Starr (Journalism/Boston Univ.; Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce, 1998) ushers readers into a French society in which criminals were not only becoming more violent but also more sophisticated. Meanwhile, the criminal-justice system was hampered by outmoded methods of investigation, dated autopsy procedures and often inappropriate dispensation of justice. The author situates his studies where forensic science and criminal-justice theory began to catch up with increasingly frequent and complicated 20th-century crimes. Then entering the picture are forensic scientists Alexandre Lacassagne and Cesare Lombroso. Lacassagne believed that criminals were shaped by sociological factors, while Lombroso insisted that crime was caused primarily by biological factors—criminals were “born,” not made. Intertwined with the intermittently compelling story of these scientists’ achievements is the more gripping account of “Killer of Little Shepherds” Vasher’s murderous rampage outside Lyon, France. Vasher was an honorably discharged sergeant who also happened to be a homicidal maniac. After a short stay in two different asylums, he was released, and the “cured” Vasher embarked on a series of gruesome murders that surpassed even Jack the Rippers’ in quantity and brutality. Although Starr’s heavy immersion into forensics and investigative procedure makes interesting reading for CSI fans, his focus too often meanders—from autopsies to “root” causes of crime to, finally, an inconclusive look at the sticky business of separating “insane” murderers from “sane” ones. Ironically, the evidence leading to Vasher’s capture and murder conviction had little to do with the forensic advances of either Lombroso or Lacassagne. Through a particularly cagey mode of psychological trickery, private investigator Emile Fourquet finally elicited a murder confession from the long-elusive killer.
An uneven but well-documented mix of forensic science, narrative nonfiction and criminal psychology.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-307-26619-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
The author brings the case for judicial redress before the court of public opinion.
A former Justice Department lawyer, who now devotes her private practice to federal appeals, dissects some of the most politically contentious prosecutions of the last 15 years.
Powell assembles a stunning argument for the old adage, “nothing succeeds like failure,” as she traces the careers of a group of prosecutors who were part of the Enron Task Force. The Supreme Court overturned their most dramatic court victories, and some were even accused of systematic prosecutorial misconduct. Yet former task force members such as Kathryn Ruemmler, Matthew Friedrich and Andrew Weissman continued to climb upward through the ranks and currently hold high positions in the Justice Department, FBI and even the White House. Powell took up the appeal of a Merrill Lynch employee who was convicted in one of the subsidiary Enron cases, fighting for six years to clear his name. The pattern of abuse she found was repeated in other cases brought by the task force. Prosecutors of the accounting firm Arthur Andersen pieced together parts of different statutes to concoct a crime and eliminated criminal intent from the jury instructions, which required the Supreme Court to reverse the Andersen conviction 9-0; the company was forcibly closed with the loss of 85,000 jobs. In the corruption trial of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a key witness was intimidated into presenting false testimony, and as in the Merrill Lynch case, the prosecutors concealed exculpatory evidence from the defense, a violation of due process under the Supreme court’s 1963 Brady v. Maryland decision. Stevens’ conviction, which led to a narrow loss in his 2008 re-election campaign and impacted the majority makeup of the Senate, seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back; the presiding judge appointed a special prosecutor to investigate abuses. Confronted with the need to clean house as he came into office, writes Powell, Attorney General Eric Holder has yet to take action.
The author brings the case for judicial redress before the court of public opinion.Pub Date: May 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61254-149-5
Page Count: 456
Publisher: Brown Books
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
Smart hopes that sharing her story might help heal the scars of others, though the book is focused on what she suffered...
The inspirational and ultimately redemptive story of a teenage girl’s descent into hell, framed as a parable of faith.
The disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart in 2002 made national headlines, turning an entire country into a search party; it seemed like something of a miracle when she reappeared, rescued almost by happenstance, nine months later. As the author suggests, it was something of a mystery that her ordeal lasted that long, since there were many times when she was close to being discovered. Her captors, a self-proclaimed religious prophet whose sacraments included alcohol, pornography and promiscuous sex, and his wife and accomplice, jealous of this “second wife” he had taken, weren’t exactly criminal masterminds. In fact, his master plan was for similar kidnappings to give him seven wives in all, though Elizabeth’s abduction was the only successful one. She didn’t write her account for another nine years, at which point she had a more mature perspective on the ordeal, and with what one suspects was considerable assistance from co-author Stewart, who helps frame her story and fill in some gaps. Though the account thankfully spares readers the graphic details, Smart tells of the abuse and degradation she suffered, of the fear for her family’s safety that kept her from escaping and of the faith that fueled her determination to survive. “Anyone who suggests that I became a victim of Stockholm syndrome by developing any feelings of sympathy for my captors simply has no idea what was going on inside my head,” she writes. “I never once—not for a single moment—developed a shred of affection or empathy for either of them….The only thing there ever was was fear.”
Smart hopes that sharing her story might help heal the scars of others, though the book is focused on what she suffered rather than how she recovered.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-250-04015-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf