lightreads

A compilation of multi-authored journal articles from the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin and other sources, discussing various facets of sexual homicide and tracking the statistical results of a thirty-six person offender interview study. The book is intended for law enforcement officers and legal professionals, and the topics range from offender characteristics to crime classifications to post-offense behavior to recommended interview techniques, the role of the sketch artist in an investigation, and possible outcomes for secondary victims (family and friends).

And can I just say that of course it would be yesterday that I’d run into an old friend I spent a lot of time flirting with but haven’t seen in a while, who knows me well enough to recognize my Bookport and ask, all engaged personal interest, “what are you reading?”

Anyway. A very general sort of book, with a lot of good information but not a terrible amount of depth. Douglas is the headliner, but the ego is notably absent. Two articles stood out; the first, written in 1985, adorably trumpets the wonder of modern technology; there’s a computer at Quantico and a computer in DC, and they can send information back and forth between them. Aww!

The other is an article from The Journal of Interpersonal Violence, which draws on the offender interviews and other data to try and outline the optimal response to sexual assault. It’s a deeply confused piece which seems as if it wants to be directed to victims but isn’t, and offers up such useful advice for moments of extreme terror for your life as, “If he responds by immediately ceasing his aggressive/violent behavior and is willing to engage the victim in conversation, he is also likely to be an exploitative rapist and the victim should use verbal strategies. If the attacker continues to escalate aggression/violence, the victim should attempt to begin verbal dissuasive techniques.”

It’s not like it’s a bad idea, delineating the occasions when resisting is a good strategy, and when it will only increase risk. In reality, these are determinations women do make on their own, sometimes with startling accuracy. But the presentation is hilariously inept.

A good book, but not terribly revealing. Starting point, not the meat of research.

Nonfiction. A reconstruction of the life of John Robinson, white collar criminal turned serial killer. The title is a bit misleading, actually, as this book covers much more than Robinson’s eventual adoption of the internet as hunting ground for new sexual and financial victims. Just as a portrait of a criminal life, this book is riveting (this would be something I like, because I really like that sort of thing). Robinson conducted an extraordinary forty year campaign of lies, trickery, financial schemes, uncountable relationships, sexual domination, and murder, to say nothing of raising four children and being an active member of his community. One of the most extraordinary aspects of the book is the way it tells the story of Robinson’s women, his victims reaching from beyond the grave to catch him in mistakes, and his wife and daughters rallying to savagely defend him. The book mostly steers clear of the more idiot TV moves – he’s a killer because his mother was cold – and it maintains an impressive control of fact and speculation and psychology.

A little bit of history here; Douglas was instrumental in starting the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit and ran it for many, many years. He’s brilliant and perceptive. But, well, man’s got issues. Most of which had no business in this refreshingly objective book. I was particularly unimpressed when he gave the full names of psychiatrists who had examined Robinson during a prison stay and reported him sane and safe. Arguments about the supremacy of, well, himself over mental health professionals aside, that’s just tacky. Also, I’m not going to forgive him this sentence, offered while discussing one of Robinson’s early victims, for either content or syntax: “Sometimes she acted as if she were hardly disabled at all, racing other people in wheelchairs at the mall and enjoying the thrill of beating them and exploding into laughter.”