Encyclopedia of psychology & law

This set is edited by Cutler (psychology, Univ. of North Carolina), who already has to his credit other scholarly works on the growing field of psychology and the law, including Mistaken Identification: The Eyewitness, Psychology and the Law. The legal topics addressed here span the major subdivisions of psychology-i.e., cognitive, developmental, clinical, biological, and industrial/organizational. The 400 entries are authored by a score of international contributors, range in length from one to five pages, and are arranged alphabetically by topic. In the introduction, readers are encouraged to use the Reader's Guide, which arranges entries thematically-indeed, many entries appear in multiple categories of the guide, and aspects of any given topic can range across the two volumes. For example, the ''Death Penalty'' entry does not include the same information found in the ''Racial Bias and the Death Penalty'' entry. The text offers the occasional unnecessary observation, such as the first sentence in the ''Sex Offender Community Notification (Megan's Laws)'' entry: ''Sexual assault is a serious problem of great concern.'' Well, yes, absolutely, but we don't need this encyclopedia to tell us that. BOTTOM LINE There is no other reference work on psychology and the law, so libraries supporting curricula in this area may consider purchasing. But because this field of study is still in its infancy, and it remains to be seen whether it will grow into something major, this set is otherwise an optional purchase for most libraries.