Thursday, September 22, 2005
Book: Portraits of Guilt
If you are, or plan to be at any time in the future, a part of the law enforcement community anywhere in the world, you should consider this book mandatory reading. Even if you have no such plans I highly recommend this book; it can be invaluable for anyone who becomes a victim or a witness to a violent crime.
The short of it is this: Jeanne Boylan, with little to no formal training in law enforcement, psychology, or art, has become our nation's number-one forensic sketch artist. You don't need my say-so, or hers, to tell you how successful she is; her work, and the open endorsements by many leading cops and citizens, including John Walsh, speak enough.
Jeanne's book walks the reader through her start in the field, and her involvement in several major cases of the 1990s (Polly Klaas, the Unabomber, the Oklahoma City bombing, and others) as well as some lower-profile cases. It also brings forth some of the side-effects of her job, such as her facing of bureaucratic intertia (such as this example from the rail industry), how her passion for justice broke up her marriage (I can only wonder what her ex' side of the story is) and a failed attempt at turning her story into a TV series (and, interestingly, many of the points the executive in the book cites as "too unlikely to be believable" actually became part of The Profiler later on). And Jeanne explains much of what she's learned about how human memory works, something that could very easily help law enforcement officials be sure they get the right suspect, and get him quickly, often with less effort and more certainty than with "traditional" interview methods.
It may seem odd to have a book cover so many different aspects of something, and some of the changes of approach, attitude, and atmosphere does come across as jarring or disjointed at times. This is, however, a memoir of several very different criminal cases, each with its own approach, its own population, and its own (for lack of a better term) "look and feel." The abrupt changes in writing may seem to detract from the text, but it really gives a better idea of what life is like for a notable investigator.
One interesting point is that, while Jeanne frequently cites real people by name, she never gives even fictional names to those in law enforcement who screw up a case, whether through incompetence or corruption. Good cops who make mistakes are portrayed as human, but at least three are shown as unworthy of the badge but are never mentioned by name. At first, when I read this, I thought this a bad choice, since the public -- especially potential future employers -- should know who these people are, but on later reflection I realized that she has the better idea. It's better to leave these people to obscurity, and let their current employers (who will know who they are from the descriptions of events) deal with the matter. Spreading public humiliation on top of it would be just wrong. (This is an example I try to follow with this blog).
As I write this, several used copies of the book are available for dirt-cheap prices (as low as $0.39) at Amazon. Or, since the book is technically out of print, you may have more luck through the Barnes & Noble link below. Either way, my recommendation is that you jump on it.
Portraits of Guilt: The Woman Who Profiles the Faces of America's Deadliest Criminals
The short of it is this: Jeanne Boylan, with little to no formal training in law enforcement, psychology, or art, has become our nation's number-one forensic sketch artist. You don't need my say-so, or hers, to tell you how successful she is; her work, and the open endorsements by many leading cops and citizens, including John Walsh, speak enough.
Jeanne's book walks the reader through her start in the field, and her involvement in several major cases of the 1990s (Polly Klaas, the Unabomber, the Oklahoma City bombing, and others) as well as some lower-profile cases. It also brings forth some of the side-effects of her job, such as her facing of bureaucratic intertia (such as this example from the rail industry), how her passion for justice broke up her marriage (I can only wonder what her ex' side of the story is) and a failed attempt at turning her story into a TV series (and, interestingly, many of the points the executive in the book cites as "too unlikely to be believable" actually became part of The Profiler later on). And Jeanne explains much of what she's learned about how human memory works, something that could very easily help law enforcement officials be sure they get the right suspect, and get him quickly, often with less effort and more certainty than with "traditional" interview methods.
It may seem odd to have a book cover so many different aspects of something, and some of the changes of approach, attitude, and atmosphere does come across as jarring or disjointed at times. This is, however, a memoir of several very different criminal cases, each with its own approach, its own population, and its own (for lack of a better term) "look and feel." The abrupt changes in writing may seem to detract from the text, but it really gives a better idea of what life is like for a notable investigator.
One interesting point is that, while Jeanne frequently cites real people by name, she never gives even fictional names to those in law enforcement who screw up a case, whether through incompetence or corruption. Good cops who make mistakes are portrayed as human, but at least three are shown as unworthy of the badge but are never mentioned by name. At first, when I read this, I thought this a bad choice, since the public -- especially potential future employers -- should know who these people are, but on later reflection I realized that she has the better idea. It's better to leave these people to obscurity, and let their current employers (who will know who they are from the descriptions of events) deal with the matter. Spreading public humiliation on top of it would be just wrong. (This is an example I try to follow with this blog).
As I write this, several used copies of the book are available for dirt-cheap prices (as low as $0.39) at Amazon. Or, since the book is technically out of print, you may have more luck through the Barnes & Noble link below. Either way, my recommendation is that you jump on it.
Portraits of Guilt: The Woman Who Profiles the Faces of America's Deadliest Criminals
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