Australian Penthouse

With the majority of serial crimes featuring a sexual aspect, some research suggests that sex crimes could be reduced by legalising prostitution. What are your thoughts on this?

I do not think that legalising prostitution would reduce sex-crime offences, especially those that end in homicide. Offenders who choose to commit violent crimes within a sexual context will do so regardless of whether their access to prostitutes is legal or not.

When you fuse together violence, sexual gratification and a need to engage in both, the result is unpredictable. Add in mental health issues and/or substance abuse, and that mixture can be lethal.

The argument for legalising might be that what motivates these offenders is the need for sex, and having access to it legally makes it both more accessible and acceptable. We know from well-documented research—including my own—that most of these offenders are not motivated by sexual desire but by the need for power and control over their victims. Legalising prostitution may impact other criminal activities, such as drug offences, theft and robbery, but I would not expect it to impact sex crimes.

Explain the genesis of Vi-CAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program). It seems incredible to have achieved national co-ordination and maintenance of so many separate law-enforcement entities. Was there a catalyst for its adoption?

Pierce Brooks, a Los Angeles Police homicide detective, and I first discussed the concept of a national system that could be used to identify commonalities in certain types of violent crimes —especially serial homicide and serial rape. We knew that we were developing the ability to link various homicide cases by the behaviour demonstrated at the crime scene, but there was no systematic method to identify and link such cases across police jurisdictions, especially those in different states.

Pierce became the first director of Vi-CAP, which was housed at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. We felt that a national system with a standardised set of questions would provide the vehicle for law-enforcement agencies to submit their unsolved homicide cases, crimes that appeared to be motiveless, or crimes suspected of being part of a series.

We also encouraged the submission of missing-persons cases and unidentified dead, where it was strongly suspected that foul play was involved. Although the system is not mandated by State or Federal statute, it has widespread support among law-enforcement agencies. A number of other countries—including Australia—have adopted a similar linkage database called ViCLAS, the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System.

Vi-CAP has been a valuable tool in solving cases that were old and widely distributed across the country.

You also endorse the work of crime psychics—a landmark in the usually conservative world of law enforcement. Cops have long stated that cases are solved with a combination of gut instinct and evidence, so why not other insight?

It is very important to keep an open mind when thinking about ways to improve our crime-fighting abilities.

There are so many disciplines that have a direct impact on the discipline of behavioural analysis. Look at the advances in some of the hard sciences, such as DNA analysis, forensic bloodstain interpretation, and the recovery of fingerprints and shoe prints.

We use cadaver dogs, toxicology, the analysis of trace evidence [hairs and fibres] and psycholinguistics [the analysis of threatening communications]. Most of these things were unheard of 30 years ago. You only have to watch television shows like CSI, Criminal Minds and Bones, along with reality forensic shows, to see how much more we know. I suspect that in 20 years we will know that much more. It is important not to close your thinking to any new avenue of investigation.

Your seminal work has inspired not only generations of law enforcement, but also popular culture in the understanding of what drives the criminal mind. What is your take on this?

In the early years of our efforts to understand the criminal mind and what motivated serial killers and violent sexual offenders, I really had no idea how fascinated the public, academia, and law enforcement would become. I feel very fortunate to have been presented the opportunities to engage in this research, and to surround myself with other experts who shared the same passion I did for the journey, and what we discovered in the process. I feel honoured to know that I have contributed to the knowledge of man for the greater good. It is a very satisfying feeling.

Your work has inspired books and films, including Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, Copycat, and The X-Files. Do you consult with authors or producers in the entertainment industry?

Yes. I consulted with Thomas Harris on Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, and with Angelina Jolie on Taking Lives, which is about an FBI profiler tracking a serial killer.

I have consulted on a number of shows, as well as offered insight for various reality and forensic programs. I have always enjoyed sharing my insight into these offenders, since most people cannot comprehend what drives these people to commit such unspeakable and horrible crimes, or how someone like me can study such aberrant and disturbing human behaviour through the detailed analysis of the crimes they commit.

Some people claim that TV shows such as CSI assist criminals in avoiding detection, but with serial killers, do you believe their arrogance will always be their downfall?

There are many shows on TV now that in one way or another educate criminals. These shows range from fiction such as CSI to reality shows like The New Detectives. I don’t think anyone would argue that criminals have become aware of various law-enforcement and forensic techniques that they have used in order to avoid being apprehended.

I believe that serial killers in general share traits of psychopathy and narcissism that make them feel superior to others. They think they are smarter than the police, and the fact that they got away with murder only reinforces
this belief. I wouldn’t go so far as to attribute their eventual arrest solely to their level of arrogance, but it certainly is contributory.

Since your retirement from the FBI, you have helmed Forensic Behavioral Services, consulting on serial and sexual homicide, threat assessment and analysis, and interpreting offender behaviour and motivation. What sort of non-law enforcement work do you do there?

Although I am still the Director of Forensic Behavioral Services, I don’t do much of the work these days. Most of the work is handled by my partner, Mark Safarik, who I lured away from the FBI. He retired from the Bureau in 2007, serving his last 12 years as a senior behavioural profiler.

In the FBI, we were only allowed to receive assistance requests from law-enforcement agencies or prosecutors’ offices. Now we do work for both criminal and civil attorneys.

In work for civil attorneys, we have been hired by both the plaintiff and defence. Even though the cases are civil, most of them have arisen out of a prior violent crime such as homicide, sexual assault, or armed robbery.

We are often retained by private citizens looking for assistance in cases where they do not feel that their case has been adequately addressed by law enforcement.

What are your thoughts on criminological organisations such as the Vidocq Society?

Both Mark and I are members of the Vidocq Society, which is headquartered in Philadelphia. Vidocq members freely donate their time and expertise to address unsolved homicides.

Groups like the Vidocq Society allow law-enforcement agencies—especially smaller ones—to seek outside assistance at no cost. It gives them an opportunity to address cases that might not otherwise get a second look.

Do you think that no matter what your course, you may have always ended up doing what you have?

As much as people like to think I use a crystal ball and Ouija board to predict some types of human behaviour, I can’t really predict what else I might have done. However, the nature of my interests and personality inevitably led me into an investigative field, where I thrived as a military officer, and later on as a law-enforcement agent. I have thoroughly enjoyed the adventures I’ve had in my career and do not have any regrets.

With your career spent studying the darkest facets of human behaviour, how did you maintain the light in your personal life?

There must always be balance. You cannot allow yourself to be enveloped and consumed by the human tragedy you study. The balance in my life has always come from my wife, Helen—the love of my life—and my three great children. It is my family that has always kept me on an even keel. They made me realise that the aberrations in human behaviour I spent my life studying and writing about are the exceptions and not the rule.

What is the most resonant fact that you have learned about human behaviour?

Just when I think I could not be shocked by the depth of human depravity, I take on another homicide case and am rudely jolted back to reality. I have never ceased to be amazed at the capacity for cruelty one human being can have for another.

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