The Criminal Mind: A Writer's Guide to Forensic Psychology

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An extremely informative, very useful guide to understanding and writing about forensic psychology. Many writers, the author suggests, write about forensic psychologists without really appreciating what they do or how they do it. The author cites numerous examples from fiction to illustrate her points, showing how Thomas Harris made things seem a little too slick in The Silence of the Lambs or how James Patterson misunderstood some fundamentals in Along Came a Spider. She also uses several well-known cases histories--Charles Starkweather, Lizzie Borden, Dan White--to illustrate various psychological disorders and their diagnoses. Aspiring thriller writers should pay particular attention to the discussion of the relationship between psychology and the law, including the nature of insanity defenses and the treatment of offenders. Ramsland's mixture of fact and fiction is extremely helpful: she begins a discussion with something we recognize, like an episode from Law & Order, and then segues gently into more unfamiliar territory. The book gives budding writers, and anyone else with an interest in this subject, a solid grounding in the history, terminology, and techniques of forensic psychology. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
This book corrects common media misconceptions about the nature of the criminal psyche in order to help writers create more credible and convincing characters. The Criminal Mind examines the fundamentals of psychology and law, theories of criminality, and character disorders that can lead to criminal behavior. Writers will learn how criminals think and how forensic psychology is used to catch them. Katherine Ramsland also explores the legal process, including psychological evaluations, lie detection, insanity pleas and the treatment of criminals and victims.


About the Author
Katherine Ramsland holds three postgraduate degrees in psychology and has taught psychology and philosophy at Rutgers University for fifteen years. She has published twelve nonfiction works, including Bliss: Writing to Find Your True Self, and recently released Forensic Science of CSI and Cemetery Stories. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey.


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Forensic psychologist Ramsland describes the work of forensic psychology with reference to real life cases, literature, and visual media. Her main purpose seems to be to encourage writers to treat forensic psychology with as much accuracy as possible. She illustrates the practice of psychology with examples from fictive media, but points out where they stray from the actual practice of the field. Chapters cover psychology and the law, theories of criminality, types of character disorders, psychological assessment, the psychologist as expert witness, mental states at the time of the offense, crime control, treatment and rehabilitation, juveniles and crime, the psychologist as consultant or investigator, and ethics. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)


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