Behavioral Science Unit

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Behavioral Science Unit
FBI Behavioral Science Unit.png
Emblem of the Behavioral Science Unit
Active1972–present
(50–51 years)
Country United States
Agency Federal Bureau of Investigation
Part of Human Resources Branch
AbbreviationBSU

The Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) is the original name of a unit within the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Training Division at Quantico, Virginia, formed in response to the rise of sexual assault and homicide in the 1970s. The unit was usurped by the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) and renamed the Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit (BRIU) and currently is called the Behavioral Analysis Unit (5) (BAU-5) within the National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC). The BAU-5 currently works on developing research and then using the evidence-based results to provide training and improve consultation in the behavioral sciences—understanding who criminals are, how they think, why they do what they do—for the FBI and law enforcement communities. [1]

Contents

History

1972

The FBI establishes the Behavioral Science Unit. The agents Patrick Mullany and Howard Teten form the unit, which was originally made of 10 agents, in response to the rising wave of sexual assault and homicide during the early 1970s. [2]

1976

FBI Supervisory Special Agents John E. Douglas, Robert Ressler and Dr. Ann Burgess members of the Behavioral Science Unit, begin work on compiling a centralized database on serial offenders. [3] Douglas and Ressler traveled to prisons across the United States in order to interview serial predators and obtain information about: [3]

1979

After interviewing thirty-six incarcerated serial predators, Agent Douglas and Agent Ressler complete their database on serial offenders. [3]

FBI profilers begin working out in the field and providing consultations on active cases. [3]

1984

The Behavioral Science Unit split into two units, one remaining the Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) and the Behavioral Science Investigative Support Unit (BSISU). [2] The BSU is responsible for training cadets in behavioral science at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA, while the BSISU is responsible for in-field investigation and consultations. [2]

1985

The National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) is established in the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI Academy. [4] The NCAVC replaces the Behavioral Science Investigative Support Unit (BSISU), and works to give behavioral-based investigative and operational support, in regards to research and training, to federal, state, local, and international law enforcement agencies which are conducting investigations of unusual or repetitive violent crimes, terrorism, and other serious crimes.

The FBI creates the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (VICAP). VICAP is a system of records, containing Agents Douglas and Agent Ressler's completion of data of serial offenders, containing: [1]

VICAP data consists of cases involving homicides, missing persons, unidentified victims, and sexual assault. [4] This information is collected to help profilers identify and match violent crime cases based on modus operandi, signature, and disorganization or organization of the crime scenes to then help investigators understand, track, and apprehend serial offenders. [2]

1997

The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) created as part of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC). [5] [ failed verification ]

2008

The Behavioral Science Unit opens the Evil Minds Research Museum, where the FBI houses artifacts from serial killers and other offenders. [6]

2018

The Behavioral Science Unit remains a part of the FBI Academy under the official name of Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit. [7]

Functions

The Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit is made up of agents with advanced degrees in the behavioral science disciplines of psychology, criminology, sociology, and conflict resolution. [1] Today, members of the Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit provide programs of research, training courses, and consultation services in the behavioral sciences. [1]

Training

FBI Academy

The Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit conducts specialized and applied training in behavioral-based topics for new FBI agents at the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA, including: [1]

  • Understanding Terrorist Mindsets and Police Response
  • Countering Violent Extremism
  • Relational Policing Practices
  • Informative and Emerging Technologies
  • Global Hostage-Taking
  • Applied Behavioral Science and Criminology for Law Enforcement Operations
  • Juvenile Crime and Behavior
  • Conflict and Crisis Management: Theory and Practice
  • Law Enforcement in the Future: Foreseeing, Managing, and Creating the 21st Century
  • Managing Death Investigations
  • Psycho-Social Behavior, Mindset, and Intelligence Trends of Violent Street and Prison Gangs
  • Stress Management in Law Enforcement
  • Problem Solving and Crisis Intervention
  • Psychology of Perception and Memory
  • Psychopathology

Law Enforcement

The Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit offers training in the behavioral sciences to domestic and international law enforcement officers, U.S. military officers, and other governmental and academic personnel. [1] Any such law enforcement officers or agencies must submit a written request to their local FBI field office in order to set up a training session, which depends on The Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit's resource availability and FBI training priorities. [1]

Research

Databases

The Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit develops and facilitates relevant programs of training, research, and consultation in the behavioral sciences for the FBI workforce, military intelligence, and law enforcement. [7]

A necessary resource for this job is a central body of information and applied research in specialty areas on significant behavioral science issues. [1] The Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit compiles research programs (such as VICAP) containing evidence to help improve behavior analyses; this evidence is reviewed by an outside board of scientific and academic experts to ensure that research is valid and is scientifically and academically accepted. [4] These structured professional judgment tools are used to identify and measure human belief states, cognitive behavior, potential threat, or deception. [1]

These research databases are used by the Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit for specialized and applied training courses and by intelligence analysts for in-field services. [4]

Evil Minds Research Museum

The Evil Minds Research Museum, located in the FBI Academy, collects items and artifacts that were owned, created, or used by serial killers–ideally their personal possessions–that were seized through search warrants or donated by their families. [6] All access to the museum is restricted to FBI agents, police personnel, and special guests of the Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit. [6]

These personal possessions give FBI profilers a different perspective into a criminal's mindset. [6] In this research, the FBI intends to develop a better understanding of offender motivation, personality, and intent in order to assist and enhance profiling investigative techniques. [6]

Legacy

The Term "Serial Killer"

FBI agent Ressler, a member of the original Behavioral Science Unit, is credited with coining the term "serial killer" in the year 1974. [4]

Ressler was lecturing at a British police academy in Bramshill, England, when he overheard an officer describing some crime (sexual assaults, robberies, arsons, burglaries, and homicides) as occurring in a series. [8] Ressler said that the police officer's description reminded him of a movie-industry term “serial adventures”—short episodic films featured in theaters on Saturday afternoons during the 1930s and 1940s which relied on cliffhanger endings to draw audiences back each week. [8] Cliffhanger endings ensure that a single "serial adventure" never has a satisfactory conclusion, and as Ressler said each ending built off of the previous episode's tension. [8]

Ressler believed that, similar to "serial adventures," the conclusion of each crime in the series only increased the criminal's tensions and desires. [8] The crime never satisfies the criminal's ideal fantasy, so serial criminals are instead agitated toward repeating their crimes in an unending “serial” cycle, hence the terms "serial killer" and "serial rapist". [4]

Criminal Profiling

Criminal profiling, also known as offender profiling, is the process of viewing a crime from a behavioral perspective in order to identify behavioral tendencies, personality traits, geographic location, demographics, and biographical features of an offender. [4]

Thomas Bond (British Surgeon) Image Source: Thomas Bond Wiki Page Drthomasbond.jpg
Thomas Bond (British Surgeon) Image Source: Thomas Bond Wiki Page

One of the earliest recorded criminal profiles was assembled by Metropolitan Police in Whitechapel, London, during the Jack the Ripper case. [3] Upon request from the Police Department, the Police surgeon Thomas Bond offered a basic profile of Jack the Ripper based on his post mortem examination of the canonical victims. [3] Based on the killer's anatomical understandings, the surgical skill of the brutal mutilations, as well as the sexual nature of the murders, Bond surmised that the serial killer (who later came to be known as Jack the Ripper) was a male with basic medical knowledge harboring misogynistic rage. [3]

The first known successful (though only semi-accurate) criminal profile was the one compiled by the psychiatrist James Brussel on New York City's Mad Bomber in 1956. [9] After 16 years of fruitless investigation into bombings cases, the New York Police Department (NYPD) requested the assistance of Brussel. [9] Though the media dubbed Brussel "The Sherlock Holmes of the Couch," many of Brussel's predictions related to physical and biological descriptors—that he wore a buttoned-up double-breasted suit or that he was a foreigner—had been inaccurate. [9] Some psychological aspects of Brussel's profile that were based on Brussel's experience and expertise were accurate—that the suspect suffered from paranoia for example—and assisted the NYPD in their investigation. [9]

Though criminal profiling dates further back than the Behavioral Science Unit, it was the unit's adoption of psychological profiling techniques along with Agents Ressler and Douglas' work interviewing serial killers across the United States and compiling a database holding this information that established criminal profiling as an acceptable investigative tool. [3] Prior to their work, criminal profiling had never been used during an active investigation; instead it was often a last resort in cold cases. [3]

Today, there are multiple techniques and methods of criminal profiling. [7] The FBI's method of criminal profiling, used by the Behavioral Analysis Unit and taught by the Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit at the FBI Academy, is known as criminal investigative analysis (CIA). [3] There are 6 steps involved in the process of creating a criminal profile with the method of criminal investigative analysis: [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serial killer</span> Murderer of multiple people

A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three murders, others extend it to four or lessen it to two.

Geographic profiling is a criminal investigative methodology that analyzes the locations of a connected series of crimes to determine the most probable area of offender residence. By incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods, it assists in understanding spatial behaviour of an offender and focusing the investigation to a smaller area of the community. Typically used in cases of serial murder or rape, the technique helps police detectives prioritize information in large-scale major crime investigations that often involve hundreds or thousands of suspects and tips.

The National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) is a specialist FBI department. The NCAVC's role is to coordinate investigative and operational support functions, criminological research, and training in order to provide assistance to federal, state, local, and foreign law enforcement agencies investigating unusual or repetitive violent crimes.

The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is a department of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) that uses behavioral analysts to assist in criminal investigations. The mission of the NCAVC and the BAU is to provide behavioral based investigative and/or operational support by applying case experience, research, and training to complex and time-sensitive crimes, typically involving acts or threats of violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Ressler</span> FBI criminal profiler and author (1937–2013)

Robert K. Ressler was an FBI agent and author. He played a significant role in the psychological profiling of violent offenders in the 1970s and is often credited with coining the term "serial killer", though the term is a direct translation of the German term "Serienmörder" coined in 1930 by Berlin investigator Ernst Gennat. After retiring from the FBI, he authored a number of books on serial murders, and often gave lectures on criminology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disorganized offender</span> Classification of serial killer

In criminology, a disorganized offender is a type of serial killer classified by unorganized and spontaneous acts of violence. The distinction between "organized" and "disorganized" offenders was drawn by the American criminologist Roy Hazelwood. These profiles were also studied and modified in the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit located in Quantico, Virginia. By classifying these offenders into different categories, the FBI is able to track down offenders by studying their behavior and habits.

The Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) is a unit of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation responsible for the analysis of serial violent and sexual crimes, based in the Critical Incident Response Group's (CIRG) National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Offender profiling</span> Law enforcement investigative technique

Offender profiling, also known as criminal profiling, is an investigative strategy used by law enforcement agencies to identify likely suspects and has been used by investigators to link cases that may have been committed by the same perpetrator. Multiple crimes may be linked to a specific offender and the profile may be used to predict the identified offender's future actions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John E. Douglas</span> American criminal profiler

John Edward Douglas is an American retired special agent and unit chief in the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was one of the first criminal profilers and has written and co-written books on criminal psychology, true crime novels, and his biography.

The FBI method of profiling is a system created by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) used to detect and classify the major personality and behavioral characteristics of an individual based upon analysis of the crime or crimes the person committed. One of the first American profilers was FBI agent John E. Douglas, who was also instrumental in developing the behavioral science method of law enforcement.

The Morgan P. Hardiman Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center (CASMIRC) is part of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC). CASMIRC was established as part of Public Law 105-314, the Protection of Children From Sexual Predators Act, passed by Congress on October 30, 1998. The legislation creates the center to reduce crime involving child abductions, mysterious disappearances of children, child homicide, and serial murder.

Gregg O. McCrary is a former FBI agent who served from 1969 to 1995, an expert witness and consultant, an author and an adjunct forensic psychology professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, and at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. McCrary was a contributing author to the 1992 Crime Classification Manual.

Patrick Joseph Mullany was an American Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent and instructor at the FBI Academy. He is best known for pioneering the FBI's offender profiling in the 1970s and 1980s with fellow FBI instructor Howard Teten. Mullany received a master's degree in psychology and counseling from Manhattan College. He began working for the FBI in the mid-1960s. His primary position in the FBI was in the Behavioral Analysis Unit, where he embarked on his work in offender profiling. Mullany applied methods to analyze possible patterns of behavior and traits common in certain types of criminals. In doing this, the FBI can attempt to narrow down suspects and predict future likelihood of offending.

Howard Duane Teten was an American Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and an instructor at the FBI Academy. While in the FBI, he worked in criminal profiling, also known as offender profiling with the help of Patrick Mullany. Teten and Mullany used this tool to attempt to identify unknown perpetrators. From the classes that Teten and Mullany taught at the FBI Academy, they helped form the Behavioral Health Science Unit and developed offender profiling, which is still used today.

<i>Crime Classification Manual</i> FBI reference on investigating crime

Crime Classification Manual: A Standard System for Investigating and Classifying Violent Crimes (1992) is a text on the classification of violent crimes by John E. Douglas, Ann W. Burgess, Allen G. Burgess and Robert K. Ressler. The publication is a result of a project by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Icove</span> American FBI Agent

David J. Icove is a former Federal Bureau of Investigation Criminal Profiler and FBI Academy Instructor in the elite Behavioral Analysis Unit. He was one of the FBI's first criminal profilers to specialize in the apprehension of serial arsonists and bombers. He is Fellow in the National Academy of Forensic Engineers and co-author along with Gerald A. Haynes of Kirk's Fire Investigation, the leading textbook in the field of fire investigation.

A serial rapist is someone who commits multiple rapes, whether with multiple victims or a single victim repeatedly over a period of time. Some serial rapists target children. The terms sexual predator, repeat rape and multiple offending can also be used to describe the activities of those who commit a number of consecutive rapes, but remain unprosecuted when self-reported in research. Others will commit their assaults in prisons. In some instances, a group of serial rapists will work together. These rapists can have a pattern of behavior that is sometimes used to predict their activities and aid in their arrest and conviction. Serial rapists also differ from one time offenders because "serial rapists more often involved kidnapping, verbally and physically threatening the victims, and using or threatening the use of weapons."

Mindhunter is an American psychological crime thriller television series created by Joe Penhall, which debuted in 2017, based on the 1995 true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. The executive producers include Penhall, Charlize Theron, and David Fincher, the latter of whom has served as the series' most frequent director and de facto showrunner, overseeing many of the scriptwriting and production processes. The series stars Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, and Anna Torv, and it follows the founding of the Behavioral Science Unit in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the late 1970s and the beginning of criminal profiling.

James R. Fitzgerald is an American criminal profiler, forensic linguist, and author. He is a retired FBI agent and best known for his role in the UNABOM investigation, which resulted in the arrest and conviction of Ted Kaczynski.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Journey to the Center of the Mind</span>

A Journey to the Center of the Mind (JCM) is a book series authored by James R. Fitzgerald, retired FBI agent, criminal profiler and forensic linguist. The series, published by Infinity Publishing between 2014 and 2017, consists of three volumes detailing chronologically the life and career circumstances that led to Jim Fitzgerald's involvement in the FBI's UNABOM investigation, which ultimately resulted in the arrest and prosecution of Theodore Kaczinski, also known as the Unabomber.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Federal Bureau of Investigation - FBI Academy - Behavioral Science". www2.fbi.gov. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 DeNevi, Don; Campbell, John H. (April 26, 2011). Into the Minds of Madmen: How the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit Revolutionized Crime Investigation. Prometheus Books. ISBN   9781615922468.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "The Birth of Modern Day Criminal Profiling". Psychology Today. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Behavioral Analysts". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  5. "Fact Sheet - Criminal Profiling Program | Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives". www.atf.gov. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Behavioral Science Unit – Part II". fbi.gov. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "FBI — BRIU". October 10, 2015. Archived from the original on October 10, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Origin of the Term 'Serial Killer'". Psychology Today. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Criminal Profiling: The Original Mind Hunters". Psychology Today. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
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  12. "Watch MINDHUNTER | Netflix Official Site". Netflix .