Robert Ressler

“The FBI investigator actually wrote the book on criminology, during a career spent researching serial killers and other violent offenders.” “Before he joined the bureau, Ressler's time in military and civilian law enforcement had piqued his curiosity about crimes that were tough to understand: violent, sometimes sexual and always seemingly irrational.” “… Ressler thought that by figuring out how — and why — those criminals worked, … [the] police could better figure out who they were looking for.” Joining the FBI in 1970, Russler was able to convince “… the legitimacy of criminal profiling” to the Bureau. Russler was also known for “face-to-face interview with the most notorious and successful serial killers at that particular time” such as Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. Many people believe there are three main early signs of a serial killer. According to forensic psychiatrist J.M. Macdonald’s 1963 paper, “The Threat to Kill”, the three signs (also known as the Macdonald Triad) are animal cruelty, fire-setting, and bed-wetting. “The triad states that [these] three common behaviors during childhood…

working as an investigator with the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Ressler popularized the term ‘serial murder’. The Behavioral Analysis Unit studies behavior, experiences, suspect patterns and insights to help solve cases, and prevent future crimes. While in the FBI, Ressler was a part of countless amounts of eminent cases of serial murders in American history. In 1976, Ressler and many other FBI investigators began conducting interviews with…

In the book “Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI” written by former FBI Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) agents Robert K. Ressler, Tom Shachtman describes in the very first chapter a disturbed individual in which made Jack the Ripper look like an amateur. Chase was a sick being and his first murder dealt with a pregnant woman that he shoved animal excrements into her mouth, stabbed her repeatedly, slashed her from her chest down to the umbilical, and the…

Psychological profiling has had a long history within the criminal justice field including the FBI. Many believe that this type of profiling has no usefulness in solving crimes, however the more that is learned about how a criminal thinks the better equipped to solve crimes sooner and prevent new crimes. Psychological profiling can be used to limit the amount of suspects for a given crime. While a psychological profile will help to solve a crime, having a solid crime scene examination is a…

Many criminals tend to display patterns and certain characteristics that they do not think to cover up after a crime is taken place. Figuring out these patterns and characteristics are parts of the endless jobs criminal profilers are responsible for finding. Much of the time, these professionals are making educated guesses and can be subjective. However, these “educated guesses” are shown to be very true majority of the time. Criminal profiling is a very difficult jobs to be into shown by…

be the most important. A number of things can play into a person becoming what they end up being or doing. Whether it is their hormones or genetics; or their background, it has an effect on a person’s outcome. Parents can determine the life their child will lead without realizing it. Parents are the people who mold their children from the time they are born. Children look up to their parents because they want to be like them. The majority of serial killers had an awful upbringing as children,…

Criminal Profiling is a technique whereby the probable characteristics of a criminal offender or offenders are predicted based on the behaviors exhibited in the commission of a crime. The job of a criminal profiler is very crucial in homicide cases. It helps the law enforcement to find and arrest the killer by knowing little details that determine possible suspects for the crime. Criminal profilers investigating serial killers have always tried to formulate some idea of the characteristics of…

The tool of psychological profiling has gained a lot of notoriety both in fictional media as well as real life for its ability to aid in the capture of dangerous psychopathic serial killers. This type of offender is unique when compared to other criminals because financial motive is usually not the primary reason for murder. This is because what they seek to attain is psychological and sexual gratification with certain types. (LaBrode, 2007) Ultimately, why they all kill is to experience power…

Profiling has captured the imaginations of Hollywood filmmakers and their audiences for well over a decade. Viewers are easily captivated by Sherlockian detectives who profile perpetrators with brilliant precision, making for bewitching plotlines and intriguing character developments. Yet experts are far more critical of this lasso-like investigative tool. Research suggests that investigators cannot simply walk into a crime scene, construct a profile based on whatever information is left behind,…

Criminal profiling is a method used to predict who is committing crimes and plays a role in catching many serial killers. Profiling begins with vague generalizations, which is probably why it is often attacked. In the instance of serial killers, they are commonly a white male who is somewhere in his twenties to forties. While this clearly is not always the case, it is often correct, although this could be attributed to a large part of the population fitting this demographic. However, profilers…