Pat Brown: Absolutely. Criminal profilers deal in what is logical, and what can be proven by evidence. What I know is this: females are the number one victims killed, and their murders usually involve sexual assault. Next, extremely sadly, are children murdered by pedophiles, and the third largest group are those that target gay people, or have another target group marked, such as one having to do with race. What no one is really talking about, and what I think the crux of this case is — is advanced bullying.
No one has really talked about this yet. I believe this is a Serial Killer whose underlying thinking is that of an advanced bully. When you bully someone you never pick on someone bigger than you or your own size — or even in your own cultural group. Someone you feel is beneath you in some way. Smaller, poorer, or someone of another race. He would be one rung above his victims — step up one class and you find your guy.
We work with evidence and logical reasoning. RMG: Something that surprised me was how much he looked like someone I might have gone to school with or dated even. Pat Brown: Nope, no hump on his back. Serial killers look like everybody else. To find someone alone and ask for directions. That would be what would be most interesting. Brown presents profiles of the typical psychopath that any first-year student I had hoped that the book would focus more on actually hunting and making attempts to understand the mind of a psychopath, yet Brown gives her audience a ham-fisted psychological report while patting herself on the back for being clever enough to outwit and outsmart these men and women.
I could barely make it all the way through the book without the bile rising to the back of my throat at the narcissism this woman exhibits. Two stars merely because some of the information presented is mildly interesting, and may be new news to newcomers of True Crime. Hardened true crime buffs should do very well to look elsewhere for more fulfilling fare.
Sep 06, Sheila rated it did not like it Shelves: didn-t-finish. I found the first half self-righteous and irrelevant, full of little details about what a great person she is and how wrong everyone else was her husband, cops, other profilers. So I quit and flipped to the second half, which was How it can be boring when real life people suffered and died, I don't know, but I did not care about the people or the cases at all, especially when her profiling never led to an actual arrest. And how many families of victims aren't speaking to her?
Feb 14, Suzanne rated it it was amazing. I really enjoyed this one. Highly recommend to anyone with a true crime interest. This was interesting and insightful, but I was also rather confused and disappointed in this book, until I'd virtually finished it and saw some comments see spoiler that helped me understand Brown's purpose in writing it.
So please carry on until the end of the book. Alternatively look at her website Pat Brown Profiling and read about her first, so you don't make the same assumptions that I did. The book gives a fascinating description of how you can figure out so much information a crime scen This was interesting and insightful, but I was also rather confused and disappointed in this book, until I'd virtually finished it and saw some comments see spoiler that helped me understand Brown's purpose in writing it.
The book gives a fascinating description of how you can figure out so much information a crime scene - and also from what is NOT at the crime scene. As Brown says, a lot of the info gleaned SEEMS straightforward with hindsight and AFTER the profiler has done their work, but it needs a special type of training and understanding to pick up on the details in the correct way and put 2 and 2 together to make 4. I can look at every point she makes and agree she has made an excellent interpretation, but given the same raw data I reckon I could only guess a tiny fraction of the logical points she deduces, and it's clear that even professionals like the police can't come anywhere near her skills and should be asking for inut from proper profilers.
It was also interesting, for a non American, to see how much politics is allowed to corrupt the US justice system. It wasn't, and every time Brown detailed a profile that pin-pointed a likely perpetrator of a crime, she then added tales of how she ran into blocks with police who ignored her, evidence that had been destroyed or lost, DNA tests that had not been done, people making political decisions, judges who sealed evidence on open cases, etc, etc, etc, the list is horrifying.
As I was reading, seeing criminals going unpunished in case after case after case, I started to wonder why there wasn't a single profile where Brown had got someone jailed and yet she claimed to be successful and that she'd appeared on US tv etc.
At the very end, she explains that she is campaignng to make the law enforcers and politicians pay more attention to solving crimes and putting criminals away. That's when I realised she was specifically listing cases where she believed she knew who committed the crime but that person had not even been charged.
The 'blocks' above weren't her excuses for failing, they were genuine and critical flaws in the US justice system. At that point I realised the book isn't her telling us about her skill in profiling, it is part of her campaign to show how murders and rapists are being allowed to walk the streets even though there is a solid case for charging them and putting many of them behind bars.
It shines a different light on the book, and if these are just the ones the Brown knows about, then how many are out there??? Perhaps people in the USA know Brown and know she has put criminals behind bars, so it would be clear from the start that she was choosing cases with problems, but as someone who didn't know of her or her record, I didn't realise this until the end.
Jun 29, Maggie Driemeyer rated it it was ok Shelves: dnf. Shelving on my Did Not Finish. I can't really say anything that hasn't been said by the 1 and 2 star reviews credited to this book. Didn't know someone could make serial killers so boring! Oct 13, Kristina rated it it was ok Shelves: library-book , non-fiction , crime. The second half of this book is better than the first. The author spends way too much time talking about her personal background being a housewife, her kids, etc.
It's really not all that interesting. Brown also repeats herself a lot. Some of the cases she discusses are interesting but I'm wondering how she she pays for her expenses since she says she doesn't charge for her profiling work when contacted by families.
I also think it's fascinating that she has little training in The second half of this book is better than the first. Just because you read about them a lot doesn't make you an expert.
I read a lot on the subject too, but I don't think I'm qualified to be a serial killer profiler. I also find it odd that all the cases included in her book have been officially closed by the police.
No arrests made, no one serving time in prison. How odd she would choose those. The only reason I can see is that she picked the ones that showed how superior she is at deductive reasoning and how dumb the local cops are.
If Brown's facts are accurate, then the police in these cases are extremely incompetent and don't have the training necessary to solve murder cases.
All in all, this is a somewhat interesting book, plus it's not too long. Jun 23, Sharon rated it it was ok Shelves: nonfiction. Not a common score--if you hate it that much, are you actually going to parse how much you dislike it? But really, the extra 0. Why wasn't it good?
All sorts of reasons. Not very well-written--clearly the coauthor had plenty of work to do in just organizing the author's points coherently and keeping it from looking like a report. Aside from a few canned phrases of support, she paints the polic 1.
Aside from a few canned phrases of support, she paints the police pretty much uniformly as lazy, untrained, political hacks who don't really care if murderers are at large preying on our precious children. In fact, she's pretty dismissive of almost everyone. There was also the more mundane, reader-centric frustration of the fact that she works only on cold cases, and no one really seems to listen to her.
Although she comes up with a fairly well-reasoned theory in each of the cases she outlines, no case is ever closed or killer ever caught. And even when her conclusions agree with those of the police, she's still really disparaging of them. Jan 15, Christina rated it liked it Shelves: true-crime. While the cases and Pat Brown's profiles were very interesting, I found the book a bit disappointing.
It seems as if they all say, "That's nice, dear. If I found that frustrating, I can only imagin While the cases and Pat Brown's profiles were very interesting, I found the book a bit disappointing. If I found that frustrating, I can only imagine how she felt. Jul 05, Julie rated it it was ok. Not very well written, and the author seems to suffer from the same narcissism and god complex she accuses her better educated and trained colleagues of being hindered by.
For some reason, despite the fact that she's always the one person to arrive at the right conclusion, almost all of the cases she outlines in the book are still unsolved. What she seems to think is a big "shame on you, justice system" narrative comes off as arrogant and oblivious.
Jan 15, SouthWestZippy rated it did not like it Shelves: true-crime , nonfiction. Pat Brown become a profiler after a woman is murdered in her small town. She just knows who did it and becomes frustrated with the detectives when they would not listen to her.
All the stories she talks about in the book are unsolved. This leads me to ask, why would you write a book and brag about all the cases you profiled and they are still unsolved?
I found her to be a bit of a pushy know it all with no tact when working with people. Highly disappointed with this book. May 21, Koren rated it it was ok Shelves: true-crime. At first I thought this was going to be an awesome book.
I was really interested in how she became a profiler. After that she talks about individual cases that she has worked on. It was really frustrating because she talks about her opinion of who the suspect is but there are no arrests or facts to back up her theories.
Most of the cases remain unsolved. If you are interested in criminal profiling there are a lot better books out there. Interesting for anyone who likes True Crime. The book needed a better editor. Quite a bit of redundancy. At first I found it disconcerting that none of the presented cases had clean, redemptive endings. But a good contrast to fictional TV shows and True Crime shows that depict neat conclusions.
Jul 18, Bfg rated it did not like it Recommends it for: Nobody. Shelves: non-fiction , crap. Pat Brown is a loon and this book is terrible. The only thing that keeps me reading it is to see what kind of crap she's going to come up with next. As readers we are used to big stories and the bad person being brought to justice, we are used to unrealistic expectations of the justice system. This idea we have that every criminals is behind bars and being arrested is false and based on movies and tv shows and the medias.
However in truth many of them are never convicted and many of them are wrongly convicted because of systemic racism. We have to take a sociological view of these stories because Pat Brown memoir is also a critic of our society and how we handle our justice system. However TW to anyone who wants to read that book, she can write many disturbing details about the murders and the way she describes them can be triggering. Mar 05, Kerri Simpson rated it it was ok. I thought itd be more interesting but it was alot of guess work by an amature house wife.
You need more than just the profile and guess work you need actual evidence. It is only a good choice if you are going to become a detective because law enforcement can be a good career with decent pay and retirement. Finding clues people have overlooked and finding answers based on evidence that hadn't yet been discovered. Working really hard on a case, essentially solving it, and then never seeing it go to prosecution because the case was too cold. Worse is when the prosecutor finds a fall guy and succeeds in convicting him and you know the evidence does not support even probable cause and yet he ends up in prison and the case is closed with the wrong person which means the killer is still out there.
The validity of criminal profiling is now being question and the methodology of profiling is being examined for its investigative value.. More independent profilers have emerged and more police detectives are looking into obtaining skills in profiling to use on fresh as well as cold cases.
Do you believe increased funding for profiling would ultimately save money by increasing case closure? Absolutely, especially if the money is used for better training for detectives. It is always cheaper to do something right in the beginning than try to fix it after the case goes awry. Cold cases are a huge money drain because if the proper lead is missed, there are going to be hundreds upon hundreds of wrong leads to follow which are a waste of manpower and resources.
We must be sure to be scientific and deductive in our methodology and include nothing that is not based on evidence. We need to stop guessing and making up stuff that is more the profiler's creation than an analysis based on evidence. We need to be scientific and then criminal profiling will be more successful and gain more respect. Would homicide investigation benefit from more research and interviews with killers? There has been a huge amount of research and interviews with killers, so I don't think we need to keep at it.
Really, we got it, we got it! We have oodles of serial killer biographies and conversations and the problem is a good portion of it is stuff the serial killer made up. Even so, enough is enough. What we really need is to increase training for law enforcement, to put money where it would make a difference; getting killers off the streets, not writing books about them.
This is always hard to say. You can look up the statistics but since some cases are closed with the wrong person, some serial homicide cases are attached to convicted killers who actually didn't commit them, and some cases are closed administratively with claims that the killer is known but dead for example , it is hard to know if the statistics are valid.
The rate of closure has been going down over the years but we don't know for sure if this is a failure in investigation, a failure in the justice system, or the result of an increasing number of homicide or a combination of all three.
Anything where you learn about people, do analysis, deal with forensics, or work with law enforcement. It is surprising how many places can add to your skills in so many ways. I worked as a sign language interpreter at a hospital in the emergency room and psych wards and I learned a tremendous amount about forensic pathology and psychology. Obviously, a number of FBI profilers have done a lot of work and written books about profiling. Brent Turvey was one of the first independent profilers to push for deductive profiling and write books on the topic.
I have also pushed for deductive profiling, written books and done a lot of television commentary on the subject. Robert Keppel is a retired law enforcement officer as was Earl James, two men who contributed a lot to the field as did Vernon Gerbeth who put out the first good book on homicide investigation. Psychologists and psychiatrists like Robert Hare and Stanton Samenow have helped us understand psychopathy. But, we should not forget how many detectives have added to the field with fine profiling and excellent investigation like Joe Horgas about whom you can read in Stalking Justice and Ray Biondi about whom you can read in Trace Evidence.
Since most of work in criminal profiling is within law enforcement and requires time to become a detective or move up into the FBI BSU, if you don't start young, you probably won't get into the proper job to profile. Yes, I started in my forties but I think I was both extremely determined and quite lucky to be where I am today. Worst show about criminal profiling in existence! Yes, I know, everyone loves it but it is so Hollywood and very far from reality. First of all, local police departments rarely want the FBI profilers to come in that outsider thing and so the show always having police departments asking FBI profilers to come and work on their cases is unlikely.
Secondly, when the FBI is called in, it is usually because the number of bodies is piling up and the media and public are demanding they come in. When they do show up, the serial killer is rarely caught. The actual methodology of profiling in the show is ridiculous. Are women who kill a number of their babies or children considered serial killers? Yes, when a woman kills more than one of her children, she is a serial killer.
Just like a male serial killer, she kills for power and control and fun and then after a period of time passes, does it again when the mood strikes her. Mary Beth Tinning managed to kill nine of her children before law enforcement finally figure out she just wasn't having bad luck with her babies.
Is a fascination with the criminal mind the best indicator I should be a criminal profiler? Actually, being too fascinated with the criminal mind is not such a good thing. Serial killers and other murderers aren't as interesting as authors make them to be and we shouldn't find them fascinating and exciting.
What we should find fascinating and what should lead us to criminal profiling should be solving puzzles. If you find Sherlock Holmes more fascinating than Criminal Minds, you are of the right mindset. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, is considered the father of deductive profiling and he was a good criminal profiler in his own right, analyzing cold cases and trying to free wrongly incarcerated prisoners.
And this was way over years ago! I am just entering high school. Is there anything I can do at my age to prepare for the field of criminal profiling? Learn to read and write well, learn to do research, learn to work hard, read books - lots of them - especially those connected with criminal profiling, and volunteer in any kind of place where you get experience with mental health issues, police work, scientific evidence, problem solving, etc.
Build up your knowledge and skills and look for opportunities to learn and do more. Become an agent, work hard for years, increase your education in psychology or forensics or both, and meet the right people and hope you get offered a chance to join the Behavioral Science Unit.
I drove ten hours to the city and when I met with the detective he told me that all the evidence had been lost in a flood and all the information on the case had been deleted from the computer. Could you have let me know before I got there? Sometimes, you need a sense of humor to survive the bumps in the road. When you have a case, what kind of things do you look for to put together a profile of the offender?
I study the evidence for how things went down and what those behaviors show me the offender was doing at the scene. From this, I can determine the most likely suspect involved and why he or she did what they did. If one was in some aspect of criminal investigations while in the military, absolutely. But, other than that, not particularly. There isn't really any college with what I consider a true and proper program in criminal profiling, but there are some with a number of courses that could be useful.
I developed the first Criminal Profiling and Investigative Analysis certificate program in the country for Excelsior College but I don't know if I could recommend that program any longer because I am no longer connected with Excelsior and I do not know what they have done to my courses or who is teaching them.
I work alone as do most independent profilers. Detectives usually work as a team. I am not sure how the FBI actually works their cases; likely, alone at times and together at times. I don't find analyzing a case stressful, just dealing with the politics of law enforcement and casework. There are also a lot of big egos in profiling and disagreements with how profiling should be done and who is a good profiler and who isn't and this is rather unpleasant to deal with.
Other than that, sometimes I have to buy something to do a crime scene reenactment like a particular gun or find a car to see if the trunk is big enough to put a large body in or some other object that had something to do with the crime. But I don't use any special scientific equipment; I leave that to crime scene techs and lab guys. I have never been around criminal or psychopaths that I know of.
Would I made a bad criminal profiler because I lack this experience? Sometimes if you are totally unfamiliar with psychopaths and personality disorders, you may find it difficult to believe they exist. But, with study, I think you can learn about them. Also, there are volunteer jobs where you can run into all sorts of people and start seeing a bunch of different behaviors! Lots of people in my family and community are psychopaths and criminals. Would my experience with them help me with criminal profiling?
It can because personality disorders will be no surprise to you. Although, sometimes, certain people can be so accepting a variety of bad behavior that nothing seems all that amiss! The trick is to study psychopathic behavior, recognize it, and then see how this applies to criminal profiling work and crime scene analysis.
No, no, and absolutely no. Profiling is about basing conclusions on evidence, not receiving messages from beyond the grave or having images pop into one's mind.
No one should go into profiling who thinks their "psychic ability" is a tool for their work. There can be issues with what to tell families if law enforcement doesn't want you to discuss anything with them which is very difficult if you know they are not being told the truth. Also, if law enforcement is lying to the public about a case, it is frustrating because, having seen the police files, you DO know the truth. Also, when you see someone being railroaded in court on a case you worked, a guy you know didn't do it, what do you do?
Who do you go to to complain? There is little one can do and this leaves one with a very bad case of queaziness, like you should do something but your hands are tied. All one can do is follow one's conscience and if there is a way to handle things in a legal and positive manner, do so. How often do serial killers do clever things to avoid leaving behind evidence? Most of the time serial killers don't do too much; they just grab someone, drag her into the bushes, rape, and strangle her.
Then they walk away. Some grab women and bring them to their dungeons and then they have to work harder at getting rid of the body. Some do things like wash the body to get rid of evidence or chop the body up so it can't be identified or find a really remote place to dig a grave and bury the remains and some wear condoms these days so they don't leave behind semen, but, in reality, most don't do much because they are attacking strangers and unless their DNA is already in CODIS the DNA matching system which has felon DNA in it , the police may have no clue at all as to who the guy could be.
This is why so many serial killers aren't caught for decades or never at all; it is a hard crime to solve even if evidence is left at the scene because most of the time the guy is a stranger to the victim and there is no connection between them to find. Serial killers kill and then take a break and then do it again when they feel like it. They don't want to be found out because they want to continue forever killing when they want.
Mass murderers kill a lot of people but all at one time and they WANT to be known, they want to be famous and have their name and face all over the news. They usually don't care if they get killed because they simply want to get their day in the sun.
Spree killers usually are on the run from something and they kill along the way to get money or a car to flee in. They are very dangerous because law enforcement is chasing them and since they are probably chasing them due to a very serious first crime like a murder or bank robbery or prison escape , they already know if they get caught they are going down so what they do after the first crime doesn't really make a difference.
If they are going down for one murder, they can kill a few more people if this means they can keep running and hiding. Again, Criminal Minds makes the the daily work of profiling exciting and high tech and spectacular! Fancy planes, great hairdressers, good suits, special equipment, and all the glory of catching the killer Profilers are usually in the background, working in offices and interview rooms, studying evidence hour after hour, day after day.
We dress like the average Joe, eat lunch at the local diner or fast food restaurant, and then go home. Sorry, very little glamour, so what you have to love about this work is not "the excitement" but the puzzle that you are trying to solve. What is criminal profiling? Is there more than one kind of criminal profiling? What is an "unsub"? Is criminal profiling a pseudoscience? Is it an art or a science? What is the purpose of understanding past crimes that have been committed?
To what extent are criminal profiles used in court to imprison criminals? What is a typical day like in this field? Have you ever worked on gruesome cases? What are some careers similar to profiling? Have you ever met John Douglas? Do you enjoy what you do?
How many cases have you completed? What has been your most interesting case? What does a person need in order to become a profiler? What made you want to be a profiler? What is your definition of a serial killer? Are there certain types of victims a serial killer preys on? Are there any ways to prevent a person from becoming a serial killer?
How do you come up with a profile? How do you read human behavior in an interview?
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