Book review

Article Outline

• Copyright

This book, from the description on the back cover is intended to provide comprehensive coverage of “the study of forensic science, and its approaches to the investigation of death, disaster and abuse”. Any reader expecting this however is likely to be disappointed. The book mainly deals with forensic anthropology, very much in an Asia-Pacific region context, and there is no significant coverage of other aspects of forensic death investigation (crime scene, trace evidence, forensic medicine, forensic odontology, toxicology etc.). I feel that the title of the book is a misnomer and taken in combination with the description on the back cover is potentially misleading. To be fair the editor does set out in his introduction that the text does not intend to be a comprehensive treatment.

The book comprises 20 rather short chapters, with most chapters being of 10–14 pages in length (including references). The first chapter is an introduction from the editor. This is followed by the remainder divided into 4 sections: Forensic Archeology (chapters 2 to 6), Techniques of Human Identification (chapters 7 to 12), Determining Time, Manner and Cause of Death (chapters 13 to 16) and Legal, Ethical and Procedural Issues (chapters 17 to 20).

As is usual with an edited book there are significant differences in style and depth between the various chapters, however even taking this into account the book lacks focus. The majority of the twenty chapters as mentioned above are concerned with various aspects of forensic anthropology, however there is a curious mixture of the different types of chapters, thus leading to the aforementioned lack of focus. There are general overviews of specific areas, (for example chapter 2: Forensic Archeology: Approaches to International Investigations, chapter 7: Forensic Anthropology in Australia: A Brief History and Review of Casework, chapter 13: The Role of the Coroner, chapter 14: The Use of Insects and Associated Arthropods in Legal Cases: A Historical and Practical Perspective, chapter 17: The Role of an International Law Enforcement Agency in the Identification of Deceased Persons and Remains), case study driven chapters (for example chapter 5: The Role of the Biological Anthropologist in Mass Grave Investigations, chapter 16: Forensic Investigation in Fatal Crocodile Attacks), a field guide type chapter (chapter 6: Human, Sheep or Kangaroo: A Practical Guide to Identifying Human Skeletal Remains in Australia) and more advanced “academic” chapters (for example chapter 8: Detection of Likely Ancestry Using CRANID, chapter 10: Methods of Facial Approximation and Skull-Face Superimposition, with Special Consideration of Method Development in Australia, chapter 12: Geographic Origin and Mobility Recorded in the Chemical Composition of Human Tissues). While some of these chapters may be very useful to the general academic reader and the specialist, and make for very interesting reading, a few appear to be out of place in this book (chapter 18, Forensic Nanotechnology, Biosecurity and Medical Professionalism: Improving the Australian Health Care System's Response to Terrorist Bombings and chapter 19: Institutions and the Health of Prisoners and Detainees).

While the editor in his introduction states that the book is aimed at both the general public and the specialist, I think it is more likely to be useful to those in forensic education and training with an interest in forensic anthropology, particularly in an Australian context. On that point is one minor niggle. I was surprised to see my institution listed in a table in the introduction as “Curtain University of Technology”. Possibly to be expected from an overseas publisher, but not an Australian academic publisher.