Forensic Psychology in The Books Store

A practical guide to applied criminology, the author brings together his years of experience as a detective/investigator and professor of criminology and criminal justice to outline an inter-disciplinary approach to analyzing crime scenes and crime scene behavior.

Multi-discipline sleuths and researchers into the criminal mind will find this combined approach to analysis a valuable strategic approach to the study of violent criminal behavior.

Are you always right?

Looks can be deceiving, but handwriting never lies. Handwriting profiling is an amazingly accurate tool for assessing how people think, feel, and act. In fact, handwriting profiling is so accurate that the FBI, the CIA, and the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad use it to build detailed psychological profiles of some of the world's most dangerous individuals. And thousands of major corporations use handwriting profiling to help them make the right hiring decisions.

Handwriting expert Michelle Dresbold -- the only civilian to be invited to the United States Secret Service's Advanced Document Examination training program -- draws on her extensive experience helping law enforcement agencies around the country on cases involving kidnapping, arson, forgery, murder, embezzlement, and stalking to take us inside the mysterious world of crossed t's and dotted i's.

In Sex, Lies, and Handwriting, Dresbold explains how a single sentence can provide insight into a person's background, psychology, and behavior. Throughout the book, Dresbold explores the handwriting of sly politicians, convicted criminals, notorious killers, suspected cheats, and ordinary people who've written to Dresbold's "The Handwriting Doctor" column for help. She shows you how to identify the signs of a dirty rotten scoundrel and a lying, cheating, backstabbing lover. And she introduces you to some of the most dangerous traits in handwriting, including weapon-shaped letters, "shark's teeth," "club strokes," and "felon's claws." (When you see these traits in someone's script, she says, "it's time to stop reading and start running!")

Dresbold also explains how criminals are tracked through handwritten clues and what spouses, friends, or employees might be hiding in their script.

Finally, Dresbold re-examines the handwriting evidence in several notorious unsolved cases. She uncovers fascinating clues that reveal the secret side of Lizzie Borden, acquitted of the ax murder of her parents in 1893's "trial of the century." Dresbold also reveals astonishing details about the author of the JonBenÉt Ramsey ransom note, and she presents startling new evidence that exposes the real Jack the Ripper (contrary to popular theories, he wasn't a prince or a painter after all).

This book approaches the understanding of delinquent and criminal behavior from a developmental, coginitive-behavioral, and psychological perspective.  Viewing the juvenile and adult offender as being embedded and continually influenced by multiple systems, the book examines the risk and protective factors that are believed to influence the developmental pathways on the road to delinquency and crime.  The 8th edition continues to be heavily researched in a style that allows the reader to follow the flow of the research literature. Most up-to-date psychological research and theories regarding criminal behavior are presented. Highlights how psychological, social, economic, political and ecological factors all play a role in influencing individual behavior. Looks at specific crimes from a psychological perspective: terrorism, sniper attacks, homicide and serial murder, cyber crime, white collar crime, identity theft, sex crimes, school violence, hate crimes, stalking, family violence, and drug crimes. Coverage of criminal profiling and crime scene analysis. Strategies for prevention and treatment of criminal behavior offered. New chapter on the treatment of juvenile offenders. Sections on juvenile offending added include: Juvenile Serial Murder, Juvenile Sex Offenders, Child Delinquents, Peer Rejection, School Failure, Language Deficiencies, Brain Development, Female Juvenile Sex Offenders, Current Juvenile Drug Use, & Juvenile Psychopathy. Professionals involved with the prevention and treatment of criminal behavior.

In Glimpses of the Devil, Peck returns to this dark and controversial chapter, expanding upon his beliefs in demonic possession. Like many science-educated professionals, Peck was a skeptic when it came to believing in the devil. But here he gives readers the complete story of his conversion as well as a full account of the two clinical cases that made him a believer as well as an exorcist. Because he videotaped the exorcisms, the dialog and scene work is stunningly authentic and convincing.

Some have criticized this discussion as disappointingly dry. One might argue that Peck’s restraint when it comes to dramatics and sensationalism is this book’s strength. Peck’s mission is not to entertain, but rather to request a more expansive discussion of evil, so that science entertains the possibility of the devil and demonic entities. He also hopes that we will begin a serious discussion of interventions against demonic possession that aren’t limited to the restraints of the Catholic Church.

In PROFILERS, editors John H. Campbell and Don DeNevi bring together for the first time a collection of articles on important facets of criminal profiling - which, for the most part, have remained a mystery to the general public. The contributors cover many gripping topics - including an interview with cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, details of autoerotic fatalities, the challenges of creating psychological profiles, and the use of forensic linguistics to track the Unabomber 0 and they try to understand why some killers go to such extremes as removing the eyes of their victims or setting their helpless victims ablaze. These contemporary pieces follow and expand upon some original articles on criminal profiling - reports on dealing with hostage situations and on sexual killers who disfigure their bodies.

Who are the men committing the rising number of serial homicides in the U.S. -- and why do they kill? The increase in these violent crimes over the past decade has created an urgent need for more and better information about these men: their crime scene patterns, violent acts, and above all, their motivations for committing these shocking and repetitive murders.

This authoritative book represents the data, findings, and implications of a long-term F.B.I.-sponsored study of serial sex killers. Specially trained F.B.I. agents examined thirty-six convicted, incarcerated sexual murderers to build a valuable new bank of information which reveals the world of the serial sexual killer in both quantitative and qualitative detail. Data was obtained from official psychiatric and criminal records, court transcripts, and prison reports, as well as from extensive interviews with the offenders themselves.