Make a Recommendation Monday didn't happen this week, but in its place, I have "To Check-out Tuesday".
Today's recommendation is a TV series, but is different from many of the recommendations I have previously made due to the fact that this show is not a true story, however is based in part on facts. The show is "Mindhunter" a Netflix original series starring Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, and Anna Torv.
(Photo credit: Netflix)
Jonathan Groff, who happens to also be from Pennsylvania like me, plays the young and ambitious FBI Special Agent Holden Ford. Agent Ford is paired with FBI Special Agent Bill Tench (Holt McCallany's character), an experienced and "old-school" law enforcement type agent. Both agents have a particular interest in understanding the psychology behind the criminal offenders that they encounter in the course of their work. When the FBI sees a potential avenue of research that may benefit all law enforcement, that is, understanding the criminal mind, Agents Ford and Tench are sent out on an unorthodox expedition. By interviewing incarcerated notorious men who committed serial murders and rapes, these agents hope to better understand how law enforcement can apprehend and also prevent these type criminals in the future. Along the way, they obtain the assistance of Dr. Wendy Carr (Anna Torv), a psychology researcher/professor. Dr. Carr's methods lend not only a psychological perspective, but she brings in the academic lens for critical analysis of the data they collect.
Although a fictional series, the three main characters are based on real-life people, and all of the inmates or offenders are based on real perpetrators by the same names. SA Ford and SA Tench are based on the real "pioneers" of the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI, John Douglass and Robert Ressler. Dr. Wendy Carr is based on Ann W. Burgess, D.N.Sc., APRN, FAAN. She is currently a professor at Boston College, with research specialties in psychiatric/mental health responses of crime victims, internet crimes against children, elder abuse, and assessment and treatment of victims of trauma (Boston College Faculty Profile, Ann Burgess). As mentioned, the offenders in the series are based on real-life offenders, such as Edmund Kemper, Jerry Brudos, Wayne Williams, Charles Manson, David Berkowitz, and Richard Speck.
The Behavioral Science Unit was originally created in the early 1970's for teaching purposes, out of interest for less theoretical lectures and more applied "how-to" guides (DeNevi, D. and Campbell, J., 2004). It was not long that teaching turned into consulting, where BSU agents/staff were assisting other law enforcement with cases through the "Crime Analysis and Criminal Personality Profiling Program" (DeNevi, D. & Campbell, J., 2004). Robert Ressler coordinated the research project that stemmed from the program, which had a goal of interviewing 36 serial killers and record the similarities in a computer-based database (DeNevi, D. & Campbell, J., 2004). Both John Douglas and Robert Ressler were part of "The Nine", those BSU members working on cases during the 70's and 80's.
Today, the BSU still exists, and operates to provide training, research/knowledge, and consultation (DeNevi, D. & Campbell, J., 2004). The BSU normalized and created the widespread practice of better understanding the victim to have a clearer picture of the offender, this being done by analyzing the relationship and interactions between the two.
You may equate the actions of the BSU to "criminal profiling" but this term was actually replaced by "criminal investigative analysis" after misunderstandings and misuse of the word "profiling" (DeNevi, D.& Campbell, J., 2004).
"Does there lurk in the murky mind of murderers and masochists, sex slayers and sadists, a pattern, a picture, a predetermined plan for pillage, passion, and perversion? The answer in most cases is yes. And our job as BSUers is to focus on individuals whose personality traits closely parallel the traits of others who have been convicted of committing crimes similar to those under review." - Russel Vorpagel in a lecture to an FBI Academy class 1982 (DeNevi, D. & Campbell, J., 2004).
Sources: [Boston College Faculty Profile of Ann W. Burgess; Into the Minds of Madmen: How the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit Revolutionized Crime Investigation by Don DeNevi and John H. Campbell, 2004]
Have you watched the two seasons of Mindhunter? Comment your thoughts and questions!
Bonus: For more information about the series from another perspective, check out the podcast LA Not So Confidential's episodes 3 and 4!