Psychopaths, I went to a lecture on them.
Seriously, I'm writing up my notes about a joint lecture given by a retired BAU member and the current head of the BSU. If you are interested in the FBI or Psychopaths, please check behind the cut.
The first part of the evening featured Mary Ellen O'Toole who talked about profiling -- except it's now called Criminal Investigative Analysis. She emphasized that Serial Sexual Killers do not include most gangmembers, hitmen, or angels of death. While there are female serial sexual killers, they are very much a minority. And several times she made the point that "women poison."
She was funny and self deprecating. Like me she has a hard time telling her right from her left, and I loved it when she said "Can you believe they used to give me a gun?"
Among her comments on the subject of psychopaths, Dr. O'Toole stated that she thought Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker was excellent. It was Hollywood and exaggerated, but "take away the make-up and costume" and he was more accurate in his portrayal than most. (At a later point, during the Q & A, someone specifically asked her about "Dexter." She said that while she had never seen the show, the descriptions of the character strike her as inaccurate in the extreme.)
Psychopaths can manifest as young as five or six years old. The MRI projects that are being done indicate the brain is different, and there is a biological basis involving too much serotonin in utero. They do not process serotonin in such a way that it gives them pleasure.
They know right from wrong, but don't care.
The rules do not apply to them. She later clarified this to say, that it includes their own rules regarding their killing preferences. It used to be believed that serial sexual killers only went after one kind of victim until they devolved. But more and more studies of their patterns indicate this just isn't so. Ditto the idea of multiple weapon types: in the past it was assumed someone who liked a knife would never use a gun, or a strangler might never use a blunt object, but this has been debunked.
The sexual thrill comes from the killing and the sense of transgression. She said Dahmer wasn't crazy; cannibalism aroused him.
Not all psychopaths are violent, and many of the newer studies are being done on white-collar psychopaths. While she was careful not to mention Madoff by name, Dr. O'Toole did make it clear that in her opinion Madoff probably comes under the rubric of white-collar psychopath. She also stated that some politicians might fall under this umbrella.
Psychopaths take great pride in what they do. We saw a snippet of one of the Green River Killer's interviews where he was "being helpful" but was unclear about how many people he killed. As the interviews progressed, it became evident to the interviewers that he knew exactly how many had been killed and remembered each individual death in extreme detail.
BTK only resurfaced to be caught because someone else might have gotten credit for his kills. The extreme ego and pride was emphasized and re-emphasized.
In her opinion, luck has no place in either profiling or in the life of a successful killer. While many psychopaths are undisciplined and quickly caught, the ones with discipline, like the Unabomber, may be active for years.
Psychopaths inject themselves into the investigations because they see the police as incompetent. The serial killers themselves rarely have arrest records, and in the early days that was an issue for the BAU because they assumed most of them would.
Lack of empathy is the biggest hallmark. The predatory gaze, the black hole stare, is real. It's not always present because psychopaths who've been captured are trying to impress the interviewer, but, when the mask slips, it's unmistakable.
The idea of a stressor beginning a killing spree for a psychopath is, in her phrase, a fairy tale. In the early days of the interview project, many of the interviewees would latch onto it when an interviewer asked. As more analysis has been done, including interviews with fMRIs, it has become apparent that this is an out the interviewers were hoping to give them rather than an actual event.
Not all psychopaths are smart.
Many are people in positions of power.
The main elements of Criminal Investigative Analysis are:
Victimology -- and Dr. O'Toole was very clear that they can offer the families of the victims little or no sympathy because their main focus must be on catching the person committing the crimes.
The three major types of victims are:
High risk: criminals such as drug dealers or prostitutes, the homeless, people with few or no ties
Medium risk: (most people fall into this category at least sometimes) someone walking to a car or walking at an odd time of day/night. People who are in public but distracted.
Low risk: People locked inside their own homes.
The lower the victim's risk factor, the higher the thrill for the psychopath. The lower the risk factor, the more likely it is that the killer has been practicing awhile.
Crime scene -- this includes both the evidence at the scene and the evidence lacking. The less evidence the longer the psychopath has been killing.
Forensic results
Method of death
Weapon(s) used
Body disposal
Post Mortem Activity
Sexual Assault/Deviant Sexual Behavior
Every serial killer has survivors. It is important to find these people and interview them in order to find the killer and later to understand the crimes. They can be extremely important in convincing the jury.
Dr. O'Toole then walked us through the process of identifying the Green River Killer. One part that I hadn't known was the cluster grave types he used were because he wanted not just to revisit the bodies, but because he engaged in necrophilia. In her words, "and we're not allowed to say 'ew.'"
He also took his son along on a couple of the killings and stated to the interviewers that had his son awakened, he would have killed the boy.
Psychopaths can marry and have children, but they have no more love nor empathy for them than they do for any other human being.
Just before the break, she froze the interview and said that it had taken place in the basement of a business office. The defendant's attorney, the killer, and the interviewer were sitting in downtown Seattle in a building where normal business was being carried on over their heads surrounded by six armed SWAT agents.
I'll give you the other half, which is about the BSU rather than profiling, in a separate entry.
I did get a chance to ask Dr. O'Toole a question privately. "Does the death penalty deter a psychopath?"
She said no studies have been done, but she didn't think so. Most of the ones on death row are very optimistic about their future (unlike most death row inmates was implied but not stated). She also pointed out that the death penalty takes away their chance to study these people and improve their methodology for catching them.
The first part of the evening featured Mary Ellen O'Toole who talked about profiling -- except it's now called Criminal Investigative Analysis. She emphasized that Serial Sexual Killers do not include most gangmembers, hitmen, or angels of death. While there are female serial sexual killers, they are very much a minority. And several times she made the point that "women poison."
She was funny and self deprecating. Like me she has a hard time telling her right from her left, and I loved it when she said "Can you believe they used to give me a gun?"
Among her comments on the subject of psychopaths, Dr. O'Toole stated that she thought Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker was excellent. It was Hollywood and exaggerated, but "take away the make-up and costume" and he was more accurate in his portrayal than most. (At a later point, during the Q & A, someone specifically asked her about "Dexter." She said that while she had never seen the show, the descriptions of the character strike her as inaccurate in the extreme.)
Psychopaths can manifest as young as five or six years old. The MRI projects that are being done indicate the brain is different, and there is a biological basis involving too much serotonin in utero. They do not process serotonin in such a way that it gives them pleasure.
They know right from wrong, but don't care.
The rules do not apply to them. She later clarified this to say, that it includes their own rules regarding their killing preferences. It used to be believed that serial sexual killers only went after one kind of victim until they devolved. But more and more studies of their patterns indicate this just isn't so. Ditto the idea of multiple weapon types: in the past it was assumed someone who liked a knife would never use a gun, or a strangler might never use a blunt object, but this has been debunked.
The sexual thrill comes from the killing and the sense of transgression. She said Dahmer wasn't crazy; cannibalism aroused him.
Not all psychopaths are violent, and many of the newer studies are being done on white-collar psychopaths. While she was careful not to mention Madoff by name, Dr. O'Toole did make it clear that in her opinion Madoff probably comes under the rubric of white-collar psychopath. She also stated that some politicians might fall under this umbrella.
Psychopaths take great pride in what they do. We saw a snippet of one of the Green River Killer's interviews where he was "being helpful" but was unclear about how many people he killed. As the interviews progressed, it became evident to the interviewers that he knew exactly how many had been killed and remembered each individual death in extreme detail.
BTK only resurfaced to be caught because someone else might have gotten credit for his kills. The extreme ego and pride was emphasized and re-emphasized.
In her opinion, luck has no place in either profiling or in the life of a successful killer. While many psychopaths are undisciplined and quickly caught, the ones with discipline, like the Unabomber, may be active for years.
Psychopaths inject themselves into the investigations because they see the police as incompetent. The serial killers themselves rarely have arrest records, and in the early days that was an issue for the BAU because they assumed most of them would.
Lack of empathy is the biggest hallmark. The predatory gaze, the black hole stare, is real. It's not always present because psychopaths who've been captured are trying to impress the interviewer, but, when the mask slips, it's unmistakable.
The idea of a stressor beginning a killing spree for a psychopath is, in her phrase, a fairy tale. In the early days of the interview project, many of the interviewees would latch onto it when an interviewer asked. As more analysis has been done, including interviews with fMRIs, it has become apparent that this is an out the interviewers were hoping to give them rather than an actual event.
Not all psychopaths are smart.
Many are people in positions of power.
The main elements of Criminal Investigative Analysis are:
Victimology -- and Dr. O'Toole was very clear that they can offer the families of the victims little or no sympathy because their main focus must be on catching the person committing the crimes.
The three major types of victims are:
High risk: criminals such as drug dealers or prostitutes, the homeless, people with few or no ties
Medium risk: (most people fall into this category at least sometimes) someone walking to a car or walking at an odd time of day/night. People who are in public but distracted.
Low risk: People locked inside their own homes.
The lower the victim's risk factor, the higher the thrill for the psychopath. The lower the risk factor, the more likely it is that the killer has been practicing awhile.
Crime scene -- this includes both the evidence at the scene and the evidence lacking. The less evidence the longer the psychopath has been killing.
Forensic results
Method of death
Weapon(s) used
Body disposal
Post Mortem Activity
Sexual Assault/Deviant Sexual Behavior
Every serial killer has survivors. It is important to find these people and interview them in order to find the killer and later to understand the crimes. They can be extremely important in convincing the jury.
Dr. O'Toole then walked us through the process of identifying the Green River Killer. One part that I hadn't known was the cluster grave types he used were because he wanted not just to revisit the bodies, but because he engaged in necrophilia. In her words, "and we're not allowed to say 'ew.'"
He also took his son along on a couple of the killings and stated to the interviewers that had his son awakened, he would have killed the boy.
Psychopaths can marry and have children, but they have no more love nor empathy for them than they do for any other human being.
Just before the break, she froze the interview and said that it had taken place in the basement of a business office. The defendant's attorney, the killer, and the interviewer were sitting in downtown Seattle in a building where normal business was being carried on over their heads surrounded by six armed SWAT agents.
I'll give you the other half, which is about the BSU rather than profiling, in a separate entry.
I did get a chance to ask Dr. O'Toole a question privately. "Does the death penalty deter a psychopath?"
She said no studies have been done, but she didn't think so. Most of the ones on death row are very optimistic about their future (unlike most death row inmates was implied but not stated). She also pointed out that the death penalty takes away their chance to study these people and improve their methodology for catching them.