At last we have a good student introduction to the basics of criminal profiling from criminologist David Malocco, the best-selling author of Forensic Science: Crime Scene Analysis. The book is packed with information on all aspects of profiling and is completed with page upon page of references in the Bibliography section, a useful tool for any student. The book covers all aspects of the subject from the history of profiling to the different approaches and everything in between. Chapters 1 to 4 provide definitions, an overview and the history of profiling from the Middle Ages to date. Chapter 5 discuses criminologists such as Cesare Lombroso, Franz Joseph Gall, Enrico Ferri, Gerald Elton Fosbroke, Franz Von Liszt, Ludwig Fuld, Abraham Baer, Paul Nacke, Gustav Aschaffenburg, Erich Wulffen, and Ernst Kretschmer. Chapter 6 covers the birth of forensic science and the contributions made by Hans Gross and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. The next chapter deals with the Whitechapel Murders and the beginning of criminal profiles by medical doctors such as Dr. Bond in the Jack the Ripper cases. Chapter 8 introduces Dr. James Brussel, the psychiatrist who worked on the Langer Report, a document profiling the German leader Adolf Hitler. Brussel later went on to produce the highly accurate profile of the Mad Bomber of New York which led to the apprehension and conviction of the culprit, George Metesky. Chapter 10 is dedicated to the FBI, the organization which has made the greatest contribution to profiling in the fight against crime. There is also a detailed chapter dedicated to crime scene analysis dealing with photography, note-taking, Luminol, blood, hair, fibers, impressions, fingerprints, chain of evidence, the Locard Exchange principle, firearms and ballistics, autopsies, internal and external examinations, identifying skeletons, osteology and dentition, facial reconstruction, and entomology. There are also separate chapters on criminologists and psychiatrists and how they influenced profiling as well as a lively discussion on the four approaches of profiling. The author identifies these approaches as the diagnostic evaluation approach, the crime scene analysis approach, the investigative psychology approach and the geographical profiling approach. Each approach is discussed in detail and evaluated. The author supplements the theory by adding important case studies throughout which makes the book easy to read and to understand. It is a must have book for any student, law enforcement agent, criminologist or indeed anyone interested in Forensic Science and Criminology.
About the Author: David Elio Malocco was born in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland. His father was born in Casalattico in Frosinone in Italy and his mother was born in Monaghan in Ireland. He was educated at the Christian Brothers School in Dundalk and his parents later sent him to St. Patricks College in Cavan where they hoped he would be ordained as a Catholic priest. But he chose law and business instead. He received his Bachelor of Civil Law degree from University College Dublin and spent fifteen years as a criminal lawyer before taking a second degree at the Open University, Milton Keynes in England where he obtained a first class honours degree in Psychology majoring in Cognitive Development. In 1991 he realized a personal ambition and moved to New York where he studied film direction, production and writing for film at New York University. Since then he has written numerous screenplays in several genre and has written, produced and directed numerous shorts and three feature films, Virgin Cowboys, Magdalen and Jack Gambel: The Enigma. He later studied creative writing at Oxford University. He has written several books on true crime and forensic science. The books were motivated by dual diplomas he had taken. The first was in the Psychology of Criminal Profiling and the second in Forensic Science specialising in crime scene analysis. David is a lifelong supporter of Liverpool Football Club and enjoys filmmaking, writing, making and drinking wine, and cooking.