I must admit looking forward to receiving this book. I thought I’d learn
something about criminal profiling. 
Unfortunate title, I thought, but … let’s see…  Well, the book came and I read it.  I didn’t learn much about profiling, per se,
and the title definitely is off center and misleading; this book is really
about the history of the Behavioral Science Unit of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation of the United State of America. 
Maybe if I had known this from the accompanying blurb, I might have viewed
the book more favorably. As it is, the style of writing throughout the book is
sensationalistic and thick with journalese. In this light, its main title Into the Minds of Madmen, proves
appropriate, at least in flavor.

This is a book supported by the FBI from instigation to publication. John
E. Otto, Acting Director of the FBI and Associate Deputy
Director-Investigations (Retired) writes in the Foreword, that in supporting
this project, ‘the FBI hopes to fill a void in the public consciousness about
the crime-fighting work the BSU (Behavioral Science Unit) has done and is
currently doing.’ What is different about this project is that unlike previous
profilers who concentrated on the ‘murders and other crimes each helped solve,
Don DeNevi and John Campbell have crafted a definitive record of the BSU entity
as a whole, one that is the most respected in all law enforcement.’  I wonder if perhaps with a little less
effusive support, this book might have been better served by a more critical
eye.

The historical account of the BSU is interesting, as are the glimpses
of  the philosophy behind profiling
science that seep into this book. Rather dull, however, are the forays into the
minutiae of the personalities running the Unit.  Interesting, no doubt to those familiar with Unit’s staff, but
tedious for the ordinary reader.

The establishment of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit was the
brainchild of Director J. Edgar Hoover during the crime waves of the early
1970s. The Unit was designed as a teaching unit and was staffed by, as the book
puts it, "the best of the best", "an elite among elites, who
would not only serve the unit’s basic mission of instruction, but also conceive
a whole new tactical strategy for homicide inspectors." (p.27) In the
beginning the profilers of the Unit were considered too academic for the police
in the thick of crime solving, but the knowledge provided by the profilers was
quickly recognized as essential in the fight against crime.

Criminal profiling is currently conducted at the National Center for the
Analysis of Violent Crime not far from the FBI Academy in Virginia. It utilizes
computer technology and designs screening programs for the analysis of those
that commit "the most savage, perverse, and bizarre crimes imaginable,
ranging from serial killings, sexual assaults, and child abductions to arson,
bombing, and diabolical product-tampering plots" as well as profiling
potential terrorists (p. 29). Importantly, the BSU teaches the importance of
the context, time, and the actors of the crime, they emphasize knowing the
victim in order to understand the criminal. The motivation of the offender is
studied in depth.

Research on significant behavioral and social science law enforcement
issues for us in training, consultation, and operational matters as well as
teaching and crime consultation remain essential tasks of the BSU.

As I say, this book is best read as a history of the Behavioral Science
Unit and the contributing profilers to the establishment of the Unit than the
science of profiling itself. Colorful language and journalistic extremism mars
the integrity of the book, but — as a popularist piece of literature, it isn’t
too bad.

© 2005 Elizabeth McCardell

Elizabeth
McCardell, PhD, Independent scholar, Australia.

Categories: Psychology