Mindhunter, John Douglas

MINDHUNTER

JOHN DOUGLAS

BACKGROUND

John Douglas is renouned for his work in crimina profiling in the late 1970s, often being referred to as the pioneer of the discipline. Criminal profiling is a mix of various methods including psychology, pattern recognition and inductive/deductive reasoning. Born in 1945, Douglas grew up in Brooklyn, New York until he turned 8 and his father decided to move the family to Long Island due to concerns about rising crime rates. An extensive love for animals and many pets, Douglas originally showed interest in the veterinary field. In school, Douglas describes his 'flair' for telling stories, which he consequently attributes to his interest in criminal investigation as it aids in building a coherent narrative from seemingly irrelevent clues. It is also noted that his love for athletics - specifically American football and baseball - was the introduction to his profiling career, evident in assessing players on opposing teams to determine their threat level. Douglas worked his way up through the FBI after joining in 1970, where he was assigned to bank robbies and fugitive investigations. By 1977, Douglas transferred to the Behavioural Science Unit (BSU) where he began teaching hostage negotiation with some applied criminal psychology to new FBI special agents, field agents and police officers. At this time, Douglas was the youngest instructor in the BSU.

Robert Ressler & John Douglas with Edmund Kemper

Impact

Mindhunter

In his 1996 book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI Elite Serial Crime Unit, Douglas writes about his journey building the practices of criminal profiling. In chapter one "Inside the Mind of a Killer" Douglas introduces the history behind the emergence of criminal profiling and the influences that later enabled the creation of the now prominent profession. To begin with, members of the BSU jokingly referred to their unit as the 'National Cellar for Analysis of Violent Crime' due to the fact that their original offices were placed in the bunker below the Quantico headquaters that had the purpose of protecting agents in case of emergency. Chapter five "Behavioural Science or BS?" depicts the structure and later development of the Behavioural Science Unit. Douglas provides backgroun information for the instructors who formed the unit in its early days.

The work of Douglas and his colleagues has made a lasting impact in criminal and forensic psychology. This can be exemplified in terms that the unit had coined as they worked in the analysis of criminal minds, such as: These lasting effects remain prominent in modern media and pop culture, where Douglas and his team's work have been reflected in various TV shows, movies and documentaries including:

Serial Killer - Signature - Modus Operandi (MO)

• Silence of the Lambs
• Criminal Minds
• Mindhunter
• The Profiler

• The West of Memphis
• The Lovely Bones
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Criminal Psychology

Previous work in criminal psychology was largely viewed as irrelevent to the investigation and capture of criminals. Society and colleagues strongly disagreed with Douglas' ideas of speaking to serial killers and resented his attempts to continue with the work despite the learning outcomes they reached that were proving useful.

In his work, Douglas continuously references various prominent literary authors and figures, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes, specifically noting that being compared to such a character is the highest compliment. Other literary figures referenced include Edgar Allen Poe's Monsieur Dupin, and books written by Wilkie Collins.

The Golden Age

Serial killings around the 1970s reached a huge spike, causing law enforcement to become increasingly concerned with what may have been the cause for such acts and fuelled motivation and determination to gain better understanding. Law enforcement referred to this increase as an epidemic, and was later coined as the 'Golden Age of Serial Murder'.

Douglas described Criminal Psychology as a 'back room endeavour' due to the negative views surrounding it. Douglas notes Howard Teten as a prominent figure in teaching the landmark course of Applied Criminology in 1969. Teten slowly developed this into being known as Criminal Psychology in attempt to reduce the stigma. Douglas later worked alongside Teten within the BSU

Society

Literature

Conclusions

John Douglas' work within the FBI's Behavioural Science Unit enabled the analysis and insight into the minds of some of the most notorious serial killers and criminals that later built the study and discipline we now know as criminal profiling. Various influences are seen in Douglas' history found in his upbringing as well as later environmental and societal zietgeists. Methods introduced by John Douglas and his team are still utilised and taught around the world, and have been incredibly beneficial in the capture of criminals after the emergence of the practice.

References

Douglas, J. & Olshaker, M. Mindhunter: Inside the FBI Elite Serial Crime Unit (1995) Scibner, New York, NY Envision (2021) John Douglas: Legendary Profiler & FBI Behavioural Analysis Unit Founder Available: https://www.envisionexperience.com/profiles/program speakers law/johndouglas#:~:text=As%20an%20innovator%20at%20the,offenders%2C%20and%20other%20violent%20offen ders.&text=Douglas%20became%20Unit%20Ch Last accessed 6th March 2021 Hollings, A. (2019). The Serial Killer Epidemic No One is Talking About. Available: https://sofrep.com/news/the-serial-killer-epidemic-no-one-is-talking-about/. Last accessed 4th March 2021.

ZYMOINE O'DONNELL21512495

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE NEW UNIVERSITY