Forensics
Vikki Petraitis
This is a non-fiction expose of some of the forensic techniques Australian Crime Scene Investigators use. It has 7 true life crimes, ranging from a hit-run to an ‘accidental’ stabbing.
This was impressive because Petraitis had obviously done her work well (as she has in her other books, which I now want to get my hands on), and she places the emphasis on the human touch. Humans are fallible, and criminal ones even more so. The book also highlighted the impact on police officers’ family lives in the days after a crime.
There was just a single chapter that annoyed me, and that was the one where it was a series of shorter events. I must preferred when I could ride on the back of a longer case, and feel like I was right there in the action and come to my own conclusions.
Something that came through to me was the shortcomings of the Australian justice system. First, it’s that most of these criminals are really dumb, and yet police officers have to try build an ‘airtight’ case around them. A confession of guilt isn’t enough to actually pin the charge on someone! Half the time they can tell the truth and get out of most of their sentence anyway.
My other complaint is that many people are reoffenders – what does it take to put them behind bars permanently when they will just continue to reoffend? Sexual assault, murder, killing just for the hell of it, they can all get out and do it again.
I picked this up for 50c at a garage sale, and it was totally worth it! It took me around 2 hours to read on, and with the exceptions I have mentioned, it was good. 4 stars from me.