Book Reviews : Prisons Past and Future Edited for the Howard League by John C. Freeman Heinemann, £12.50

Abstract

This is a collection of nine papers given at two conferences held in Philadelphia, USA, in 1976. They were given by a group consisting of a law professor, judge, neurologist, criminologist and five psychiatric specialists; the editor is a forensic psychiatrist. The principal themes are violence in families and general violence in relation to individual and communal responsibility. As the editor points out, some of the papers are addressed to the medical profession mainly and I should add that two chapters are concerned with the need for new legal procedures in the USA aimed at protection from and prevention of physical abuse (Chapter 7) and medicallegal aspects of violence towards children (Chapter 8). But I found these papers relevant to British experience and will refer to one of them again.Most of the papers make the book of interest to non-medical and British readers. For example, the psychological and social roots of violence are analysed and biological, psychological and socio-economic perspectives on violent behaviour are discussed in an introductory paper by a psychiatrist (Psycho-social roots of violence, Chapter 1). Psycho-dynamic aspects are discussed by Seymour Halleck, an expert on law and psychiatry, and he refers to social and cultural factors (Chapt~r 4). The paper by the judge is worth mentioning here. It is based on her experience of people vulnerable to violence-the institutionalised, the old, and the mentally disordered. Her paper (Chapter 7) challenges professionals to work with and in co-operation with the law and is relevant to important controversies and searching discussions in this country. I hope my account of this collection and the selection I have made is sufficient to justify recommending this book at least for library or office purchase. I found it an illuminating and scholarly collection which was clearly adressed to practical issues.