The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is a department of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime that uses behavioral analysts to assist in criminal investigations. Their mission 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.
Operation Greylord was an investigation conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Chicago Police Department Internal Affairs Division and the Illinois State Police into corruption in the judiciary of Cook County, Illinois. The FBI named the investigation "Operation Greylord" after the curly wigs worn by British judges.
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural crime drama television series created and produced by Jeff Davis and Erica Messer that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. It follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), using behavioral analysis and profiling to investigate crimes and find the unsub, the team's term for perpetrators. The show tells the story of the team as they work various cases and tackle their personal struggles.
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. The originator of modern profiling was FBI agent Robert Ressler. He defined profiling as the process of identifying all psychological characteristics of an individual and forming a general description of their personality based on an analysis of crimes they have committed.
John Edward Douglas is an American retired special agent and unit chief in the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
In the United States on May 11, 2006, retired Roman Catholic priest Gerald Robinson was convicted of the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl (1908–1980), a Sister of Mercy, a Catholic religious order of women on Holy Saturday, April 5, 1980. Robinson repeatedly appealed, but without success. On July 4, 2014, Robinson died in prison.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been a staple of American popular culture since its christening in 1935. That year also marked the beginning of the popular "G-Man" phenomenon that helped establish the Bureau's image, beginning with the aptly titled James Cagney movie, G Men. Although the detective novel and other police-related entertainment had long enthralled audiences, the FBI itself can take some of the credit for its media prominence. J. Edgar Hoover, the Bureau's "patriarch", took an active interest to ensure that it was not only well represented in the media, but also that the FBI was depicted in a heroic, positive light and that the message, "crime doesn't pay", was blatantly conveyed to audiences. The context, naturally, has changed profoundly since the 1930s "war on crime", and especially so since Hoover's death in 1972.
Jacobson v. United States, 503 U.S. 540 (1992), is a case decided by the United States Supreme Court regarding the criminal procedure topic of entrapment. A narrowly divided court overturned the conviction of a Nebraska man for receiving child sexual abuse material through the mail, ruling that postal inspectors had implanted a desire to do so through repeated written entreaties.
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.
DarkMarket was an English-speaking internet cybercrime forum. It was created by Renukanth Subramaniam in London, and was shut down in 2008 after FBI agent J. Keith Mularski infiltrated it using the alias Master Splyntr, leading to more than 60 arrests worldwide. Subramaniam, who used the alias JiLsi, admitted conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to nearly five years in prison in February 2010.
Candice DeLong is an American former FBI criminal profiler and bestselling author. DeLong was the lead profiler in San Francisco, California, and worked on the Unabomber case. Currently, she hosts the Investigation Discovery programs Deadly Women and Facing Evil with Candice DeLong, the Wondery podcast Killer Psyche, and the Discovery+ program The Deadly Type with Candice DeLong.
Timothy G. Clemente is an American counter-terrorism expert who has worked as an FBI Special Agent and SWAT team member in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He also ran a cover joint operation with the Department of Energy's National Emergency Support Team, which was tasked with protecting the U.S. from attack by rogue nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction. Clemente went undercover as a drug smuggler and took down members of the Cali Cartel working in narcotics and organized crime investigations in the U.S. and South America.
My Favorite Murder is a weekly true crime comedy podcast hosted by American comedians Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. The first episode was released in January 2016. The podcast debuted at #25 on the iTunes podcast charts and peaked at #3 on April 27, 2018. Weekly episodes regularly land within the iTunes' Top 10 Comedy Podcast chart. As of 2020, the podcast gets 35 million downloads per month.
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.
Dr. Ann C. Wolbert Burgess is an American researcher and Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist whose work has focused on victims of trauma and abuse, and is author of A Killer by Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind. She is a professor at the William F. Connell School of Nursing at Boston College. She received her Master's degree from the University of Maryland and her Doctorate from Boston University.
Laura Richards is a criminal behavioral analyst, and an international expert on domestic violence, stalking, sexual violence, homicide and risk assessment. Richards is the founder of Paladin in 2013, the world's first National Stalking Advocacy Service.
Armchair Expert is a weekly podcast hosted by American actors Dax Shepard and Monica Padman. Each podcast features Shepard and Padman interviewing celebrities, journalists, and academics about "the messiness of being human". The podcast premiered February 14, 2018, with Shepard's wife, actress Kristen Bell, as the first guest. It appeared on Vulture's list of 2018's best comedy podcasts and was reviewed by The Irish Times. Shepard and Padman have also taken their podcast on the road, recording episodes in front of live audiences.
Alaina Urquhart is an American podcaster, writer, and producer. She is best known for her podcast Morbid: A True Crime Podcast, which she co-hosts with her niece, Ash Kelley. Urquhart released her debut novel, The Butcher and the Wren, in fall 2022. She has degrees in criminal justice, psychology, and biology. She was an autopsy tech by trade.
Hernan Lopez is an entrepreneur and media executive known for his contributions to the digital art and podcasting industries. He is the founder and former CEO of the podcast and media company Wondery. From 2011 to 2016 he was the chief executive officer of Fox International Channels.