Criminal Mind Investigators use physical and biological evidence to determine the who, what and how. Forensic psychiatrists help find out the why.

Where law meets the study of the mind. The forensic psychiatric professional (psychiatrist or psychologist) may be called upon to perform several functions: Testing a suspect for mental illness Assessing a perpetrator’s sanity Establishing a perpetrator’s mental state at the time of the crime Determine an individual’s competency to stand trial Profiling perpetrators and victoms

How the mind matters in forensics Forensic psychiatrists may be brought to the case by the prosecution, the defense, or the judge. They may be asked to: Assess the role of alcohol and drugs in a defendant’s conduct. Determine sanity or competency to stand trial. Assess a subject’s understanding of reality and responsibility.

Offer a judgment regarding the suspect’s state of mind at the time of the crime. Offer investigators information for use in witness and suspect interrogations. Create a psychological profile of the type of individual who likely committed the crime.

Civil cases, forensic psychiatrist may be asked to determine a subject’s competency, manage personal affairs, care for themselves or others, or stand trial. Spousal and child abuse are common areas of involvement, disputes involving child custody, sexual harassment, disability, or emotional suffering.

In cases of apparent suicide, the forensic psychiatrist may be asked to perform a psychological autopsy to determine whether the victim likely took his or her own life and whether drugs and alcohol, financial problems, or social difficulties contributed to the death.

Understanding a suspect’s state of mind has tremendous bearing on the legal proceedings that determine guilt or innocence. State of mind affected by: Physical complications Psychiatric disorders

Forensic psychiatrists use a wide variety of tests to determine what makes a subject tick. Goal of psychiatric testing is to uncover any psychiatric disorders and to establish the subject’s thought processes and cognitive abilities. Based on testing and interview results, psychiatrist offers an opinion about the subject’s psychiatric state, competence, and sanity.

Medical history and physical exam Forensic psychiatrist determines whether the individual has any neurological or psychiatric problems that alter states of thinking or understanding. Determine medical problems such as stroke, head trauma, liver or kidney diseases. Ex. A stroke can alter your cognitive abilities so that you can’t form complete and coherent thoughts. It may damage areas of the brain that control speech, hearing, emotions, and any other brain function.

Many prescription and illicit drugs alter brain function. Medications for seizure disorders, diabetes, heart disease, insomnia, and weight loss, in addition to sedative and mood elevator, can greatly affect psychiatric functional testing.

Review subject’s medical, work and military records. Review is he/she a suspect in a crime, police and witness reports, crime scene photos, and autopsy reports. Blood testing and brain testing such as electroencephalogram (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or computed tomography (CT) to determine if normal.

Test subject’s mental health, intellectual capacity, personality type, cognitive abilities, and mental competence. Tests fall into three categories:

Personality Inventories 1. Personality inventories – determine personality type, attitudes, behaviors, thought processes, beliefs, emotional responses, social abilities. These tests may reveal antisocial tendencies, obsessive-compulsive disorders, other disorders. Tests highly standardized and reliable.

Common personality inventories: 1. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) 2. Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) 3. California Psychological Inventory (CPI).

Projective Testing 2. Projective testing is designed to evaluate the person’s personality and thought processes. Less standardized and more subjective than personality inventories. Examiner uses them to gain insight into how the subject thinks and how he views himself, others, and the world in general. Often uncover any obsessions and fantasies that drive the subject’s actions.

Projective Testing Tests commonly used: 1. Rorschach Test is the famous inkblot exam. Subject views a series of abstract inkblots and is asked to describe what he sees. How the subject describes the images can reveal something about the person’s personality, thought processes, connections with reality. 2. Projective drawing is similar to the Rorschach test, except the subject produces the drawings, which are then analyzed. Drawings real subject’s inner thought processes and fantasies.

3. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), the subject is shown pictures of common situations and asked to make up stories to go with the images. Subject’s inner thoughts and fantasies may be revealed.

3. Intellectual and cognitive testing is designed to assess the subject’s intelligence, mental competency, thought process and ability to understand his or her own behavior. This information is critical in determining the subject’s level of responsibility and competency to stand trial. The most common intelligence test is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), which assesses the subject’s intelligence quotient (IQ).

Psychiatrist first tries to get the subject to relax and to gain his confidence so the subject will speak freely. Simple, non-confrontational questions about the subject’s childhood, family, and social interactions usually do the trick. Questioning becomes more probing to determine the subject’s attitudes toward past and current events in their life.

Psychiatrist is interested in the suspect’s motivation than in the actual events. Example: If the subject has assaulted someone, the questions will be designed to determine why they did it and how they felt about it. If the subject is ashamed and apologetic and realizes that they were wrong, that will say something very different about her than if they feel anger, resentment, justification and entitlement.

Dealing with Deception Criminals lie. If they didn’t, the job of a police investigator would be easy. Whether it’s forgery, establishing a false alibi, staging a crime scene, or lying in court, criminals alter, distort, and manufacture the truth.

Distortion, exaggeration, and deception are the reason forensic psychiatrist’s exist. Suspects are extremely likely to lie, regardless of whether they view forensic psychiatrists as enemies or possible allies in deception. If suspects can convince forensic psychiatrists that they’re telling the truth, that they remember nothing about the rime, that they’re insane, they ultimately end up with an ally in the courtroom.

Example: A suspect is guilty of rape and murder but indicates that he likes and respects women, when the exact opposite is the case. The suspect may lie about past interpersonal and sexual experience, alter or completely fabricate beliefs and feelings, or even exaggerate negative reactions and feelings, all in hopes of being declared incompetent or insane, thus avoiding responsibility.

Often such exaggerations are limitations of symptoms the suspect believes will result in a diagnosis such as posttraumatic stress disorder, multiple personality disorder or whatever else they’ve recently seen in the news.

Malingering is a special form of deception in which the subject attempts to make any physical or mental defects appear worse than they actually are or manufacture them completely. Alternatively, subjects may try to make a defect appear less severe than it actually is. Fortunately, the MMPI and several other tests include scales that indicate such deceptions.

Psychiatrists, police officers, attorneys, and many other individuals who deal with criminals and suspects on a regular basis become adept at detecting deception. Several techniques are used: Looking for signs of nervousness, sometimes indicate person is lying. Sweating, dilated pupils, tremors of hands and lips, failure to make eye contact, and hesitant or rapid speech may indicate the subject is lying.

Reading body language. How the subject sits or moves may betray his or her lies. Signs that may indicate lying include hand-wringing, slumping or slouching, finger-tapping, and fidgeting, among others. Using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP): technique of reading a person’s eye movements to determine his or her mental state. Looking up and to the side while answering questions, may indicate that the subject is recalling something he has seen.

Eyewitnesses Eyewitnesses are notoriously unreliable. Unfortunately, memory isn’t all that reliable. Your ability to recall the details of any particular event fades with time, and the natural tendency is to fill in any blanks with what you believe should’ve happened. This unconscious effort is colored by your personal beliefs, prejudices, motives and expectations.

The stress of witnessing a frightening or threatening event often alters memories – just the way human brain works. Earwitness testimony is even more unreliable. People are often asked to identify a perpetrator by his or her voice. Unless the voice is unusual or exceptionally distinctive, this is unreliable.

False confessions False confessions are more common than you may think. People who give false confessions do not intend of deceiving police, they may simple be confused, tired, angry or want to get out of the room. They may have psychiatric problems and actually believe they did it, or can’t remember whether they did it or dreamed it.

When a sensational murder is reported, about 2 dozen people call police to confess to it. Many false confessions arise because criminals think they can deflect police from another crime. Example: a suspect may confess to stealing a car or robbing a store, but claim to know nothing about the murder, by placing them in another location, they couldn’t possibly be the killer.

Family members often confess to a crime to protect the real culprit. Some people confess for no apparent reason. Many psychological factors come into play: low self-esteem, fear of the police, need for fame, need to please authorities or another person.

Alcohol or drugs may cloud judgment and lead to confusion, false memories, fabrications, which may make the individual unsure whether he or she is guilty. If suspect was drunk and the police tell her she was the only one in the house with the deceased, she may begin to believe that she did commit the crime, even though she doesn’t remember it. This may result in a false confession.

Certain police interrogation tactics lead to false confessions. Isolation and fatigue can break down a person so far that a confession seems easier than continuing with interrogation. Interrogators use tactics designed to trip up lying suspects. Ask same question over and over in varying forms or go off topic and come back. Sometimes this techniques confuses an innocent person to the point of confession.

Defendant’s Competence Competency to stand trial reflects the defendant’s ability to understand the charges they face, the consequences of the charges, the working of the courtroom, and the roles of the judge and attorneys. Without an understanding, the defendant can’t be tried fairly.

Competency examination determines whether the subject is competent to confess, testify, waive Miranda rights (right to remain silent and be represented by counsel), accept or refuse an insanity defense, and even to be executed.

Commonly encountered mental disorders that lead to lack of competence include: Mental retardation, result of congenital or developmental abnormalities, brain injuries or infections. Severe drug or alcohol addiction. Organic brain syndromes (structural or functional brain abnormalities) strokes, tumors, infections. Severe neuroses that lead to paranoid or severe anxiety states. Psychoses and schizophrenias accompanied by an altered perception of reality.

Forensic psychiatrist may take the stand to offer an opinion regarding the suspect’s mental state at the time of the crime. May address legal sanity, if the suspect’s defense is an insanity plea. Post-trial, the psychiatrist may address the defendant’s need for admission to a treatment facility as opposed to prison. Also, offers an opinion regarding how dangerous the defendant is or how likely the defendant is to commit crimes in the future. Whether convicted person is competent to be executed.

Insanity Psychiatrists can’t diagnose insanity, because it’s a legal term rather than a medical condition. Insanity is determined only by a judge or jury. Psychiatrists diagnose mental disorders and advise the court as to their findings, but the final say comes from the law, not medicine.

Insanity is a poorly defined term that means different things in different jurisdictions. Most courts adhere to the McNaughten rule, which basically asks whether the suspect suffers from any metal disorder that prevents them from understanding the nature and the consequences of their actions.

In 1984, Congress adopted the Omnibus Crime Code for insanity, which states that people can be found not guilty by reason of insanity if they didn’t appreciate the illegality of their behavior (appreciate implies an higher degree of understanding than knowledge). The McNaughten and Omnibus definitions address the fact that a crime consists of two parts: the criminal activity, termed actus reus, and criminal intent, termed mens rea.

Diminished capacity is a special form of insanity. Certain conditions during the crime reduced the criminal’s ability to distinguish between right and wrong. Example: someone kills his wife over an adulterous affair may state that he did it in a fit of rage and he was not responsible for his actions (Temporary insanity), when he had planned the murder for weeks. On the other hand an individual suffering from paranoid delusions because of chronic cocaine abuse may not have been capable of planning a murder, which changes that person’s degree of liability from 1 st degree to 2 nd degree murder.

Tracking Serial Offenders Serial offenders create special problems for law enforcement. Regardless of whether you’re taking about serial rapists, bombers, killers, or perpetrators of repetitive crimes, the nature of their crimes and the fact they often have no apparent connection to their victims, whom they select randomly, cause difficulty for law enforcement.

Most murders have identifiable motives, such as financial gain, revenge or covering another crime. Early stage of any homicides investigation focus on people who know and may profit from the victim’s death. Overwhelming majority of homicides occur between people who know one another.

Most serial killers and rapists prey on strangers. Their motives are more private and personal, dwelling deep within the person’s psyche. More often than not, when a serial criminal’s motive is discovered, it seems irrational, but not to the killer.

Classifying the multiple murderer Multiple murderers are people who’ve killed more than one person. Multiple murders are classified according to the location and sequence of the killings. Mass murderers: These killers kill more than 4 people in one place at one time. Have a clear agenda and want to send a message. Mass murderer is the kind of killer who walks into his or her workplace and shoot in a rapid-fire assault. Motive often is some perceived wrong committed by co-worker or employer.

Spree Killers: These killers kill more than one person at two or more locations that are linked by motive with no cooling-off period between. Spree killers go on rampages, moving from place to place, leaving bodies as they move. Such sprees often end in a suicidal confrontation with law enforcement.

Serial killers: These killers kill more than on person at different times and locations with cooling-off periods between the killings. Killer may take a few months to unwind, before the demons take over again.

Society has difficulty understanding and dealing with serial offenders. Serial rapists and killers typically are psychopaths or sociopaths. Sociopaths tend to be self-centered, manipulative, emotionally shallow, devoid of empathy and remorse. Many serial killers begin their adventures with rape and then progress to murder in order to cover the crime or increase their morbid enjoyment.

The psychosexual pathology that drives these offenders appears to become ingrained early in life, and it only grows in strength as the individual matures through puberty and into adult life. Many serial offenders come from backgrounds of physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Insulate themselves from abuse by creating a protective world that’s rich in fantasy. As fantasies develop, some serial offenders take on sexual and violent characteristics that may brew for years, before the offender begins to act them out.

Fantasy plays a powerful role in the violent crimes of serial offenders. Early the fantasies are benign, but as they play out for years they become more elaborate. Sexual and violent themes tend to commingle until the two are inseparable. When serial offenders go on the prowl for victims, they are seeking characters in their fantasy plays. They may look for a certain type of person or a specific look. Ex: Ted Bundy sought dark hair women with a center part.

This example points out an important fact about these fantasies: They tend to be specific. Fantasies are comforting; it feeds some psychological need within you. Serial offenders tend to have sexually violent fantasies that they may ultimately act out.

The specific details of the fantasies enable forensic psychiatrists to develop profiles of the killers. Many laws protect the public from these criminals. They are given long sentences, when released from prison or mental facility, they’re constantly monitored. Neighborhoods into which they move are notified of their presence.

Profiling the Perpetrator Profiling, or looking at evidence and making a best guess as to the type of individual who would commit the crime in question, helps investigators get a firm grasp on whom they are trying to track down. The profiler, usually a specially trained FBI agent, looks at the crime scene, autopsy data, victim, and likely precrime and postcrime behaviors of the killer to make this assessment.

Profiler answers questions like: How did the killer gain access to the victim? What did the killer do to the victim? Did the killer try to cover his or her tracks and, if so, how? What is it about this victim that attracted the killer? What motive or fantasy drove the killer to harm the victim in the particular manner at the particular time and location?

In serial murder cases, offenders often are termed unknown subjects, or unsubs for short. Analysis of the crime scene may offer clues to the type of unsub police should search for. That analysis has become known as offender profiling. Profiling helps police narrow the focus of their investigation.

Profiling may suggest the unsub’s: Physical and psychological makeup Areas of residence and work Behaviors that may have been exhibited before the crime Likely comings and goings after the crime The crime scene may reveal aspects of an unsub’s modus operandi (MO or method of operation).

Criminal profiling evolved from studies conducted by the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, which is now known as the Investigative Support Unit. The studies were designed to gain insight into violent criminals. Crime scene analysis for clues to the offender’s personality and motives are now considered critically important in tracking serial offenders. Perpetrator leaves behind physical evidence, behavioral and psychiatric evidence which is key to finding perpetrators.

How a person acts depends upon his or her personality and psychological needs and fears. Profiling seeks clues to the perpetrator’s personality from the behaviors they exhibit at the crime scene. These clues can provide insight into the killer’s motives, level of intelligence and sophistication, and reasons for selecting a particular victim.

Assessing the perpetrator’s psyche One basic method of characterizing offenders from crime-scene evidence divides them into the following 3 categories: Organized offenders Disorganized offenders Mixed offenders

Organized Offenders Organized offenders: Criminals are more sophisticated, their crimes show evidence of planning. These types tend to be of average or better intelligence, employed and in active social relationships such as spouses and families. Not impulsive, they prepare and rehearse. They tend to target specific victims or types of victims and use control measures such as restraints to maintain victim compliance. Bring tools they need to gain access to and control of the victim and avoid leaving behind evidence. Generally hide or dispose of the body and are likely to have a dumpsite already selected.

Disorganized Offenders Disorganized offenders: Usually live alone or with a relative, possess lower than average intelligence, are unemployed or work at menial jobs, and often have mental illnesses. Act impulsively, or as if they have little control over their fantasies. Attack with sudden violence, overwhelming the victim. Crime scene often messy and chaotic. Doesn’t plan ahead or bring tools, uses whatever is handy. Typically leave the body at the scene and exert little effort to avoid leaving behind evidence. Some have sexual contact with the victim after killing him or her.

Mixed Offenders Mixed offenders: Leave behind mixed messages at crime scens. Show evidence of planning and sophisticated MO, but the assault itself may be messy, which may indicate some control over deep-seated and violent fantasies.

Descriptors Descriptors: ways that profilers describe the types of individuals. Some of the descriptors used in serial killer profiling are: Age: Most serial killers are in their 20s or 30s. Sex: Almost all male Race: Most don’t cross racial lines. White offenders kill whites, black offenders kill blacks. Residency: Organized offenders may be married, have family and be well like by friends. Disorganized offenders, because of their mental instability and immaturity, tend to live alone or with a family member.

Descriptors Proximity: Location of perpetrator’s home in relationship to the crime scene is important. Most kill close to home, particularly true with first few victims, then move boundaries farther and farther from home. Social skills: Killers who use a ruse to ensnare their victims (Ted Bundy), typically posses good social skills, Work and military histories: Organized offenders more often have stable work history and have left military service with an honorable discharge. Disorganized offenders are often too unstable to hold a job or complete military service.

Descriptors Educational level: Organized offenders tend to have more schooling than disorganized offenders. Using these descriptors, profilers can create a pretty good profile of the type of person who likely committed the crime. Profiling plays an important role in determining whether a crime scene is staged. Staging means changing the appearance of the scene so it looks like the murder took place in a different manner or for a different reason.

Example: husband who kills his wife in a fit of anger, then empties drawers, knocks over furniture, breaks a door lock or window to make it appear as though a burglar committed the crime. When investigators discover that the wife was severely bludgeoned and stabbed 10 times, the suspicion falls on the husband. A burglar wouldn’t engage in overkill, preferring to kill and run. Overkill is usually personal, with anger as the common underlying drive.

Taking trophies and souvenirs Many criminals take things from the crime scene. Money, jewels, electronic equipment, and other valuables that can be sold are commonly taken, as is incriminating evidence, such as the murder weapon or a used condom. Serial offenders tend to take objects that have no monetary or evidentiary value. Whatever the object it holds some value to the perpetrator, and will be used to relive the crime in later fantasies. Some killers take jewelry, clothing, driver’s licenses or body parts.

Distinguishing MO from signature Modus Operandi (MO, or method of operation) describes the tools and strategies a criminal uses to commit a crime. It dates back to the 1880s when Major L.W. Atcherley, a police constable in England developed a 10 point system for identifying a perpetrator’s MO. Scotland Yard later adopted many of his techniques.

Atcherley considered the following factors: Location of the crime Point of entry Method of entry Tools that were used during the crime Types of objects taken from the crime scene Time of day the crime was committed Perpetrator’s alibi Perpetrator’s accomplices Method of transportation to and from the scene Unusual features of the crime, such as killing the family god or leaving a note or object to taunt the police

All the previous factors address the perpetrator’s method of doing things. They are the things that they see as necessary to committing, and getting away with the crime. An MO may evolve over time as the unsub finds better ways to commit the crimes, perhaps changing his mode of entry, disguise, or when the attacks take place. Whatever makes the unsub’s efforts more effective and helps him avoid detection.

In contrast to an MO, a signature is an act that has nothing to do with completing the crime or getting away with it. Signatures are important to the offender in some personal way. Torturing the victim, overkill, postmortem mutilation or posing, and taking of souvenirs or trophies are signatures. These actions are driven by the killer’s psychological needs and fantasies.

Unlike an MO, the unsub’s signature never changes. It may be refined over time, but the basic signature remains the same. Example: if a serial killer poses victims in a religious manner, praying or with a crucifix, later candles or other ceremonial objects may be added later.

Reason for the stability of the signature lies in its driving force. The signature is derived directly from the unsub’s fantasies. These fantasies develop early in life and are refined into an obsession from years of mental reenactment. During the crime, an unsub forces the victim to respond according to the script from his fantasy. The signature is solely for the killer to live out his personal fantasy. Because the fantasy never changes, the signature remains intact.

Profiling the Victim: Victimology Evaluating the victim often adds to the offender profile. Studying the victim’s characteristics is called victimology, which is establishing a measure of that person’s risk of becoming a victim as a result of their personal, professional, and social life. A detailed understanding of the victim’s lifestyle and habits provides clues as to why this victim was selected at a given time and location.

This information divides victims into the following risk categories: High-risk victims frequently live in high-risk situations. Prostitutes, particularly the ones who walk the streets, work at night, interact with strangers. Other high risk behaviors include drug use, promiscuous lifestyles, nighttime employment, and associations with people who posess criminal personalities.

Low risk victims stay close to work and home, don’t visit areas unfamiliar to them, lock their doors, have steady jobs and many friends. Medium risk victims fall between the other two categories. A medium risk victim may work close to home and lock his doors, but be promiscuous and occasionally venture out at night alone.

Offenders select their particular victims based on their fantasies and the victims’ vulnerability. Some victims are grabbed as victims of opportunity. High risk victims place themselves in vulnerable positions more often than low risk victims, but either can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Offenders may spend days or weeks cruising for just the right victim-the one who most closely matches his fantasy.

A special form of victim profiling is the psychological autopsy, which is performed when the manner of a victim’s death isn’t clear-investigators don’t know whether the victim’s death was an accident, suicide, or homicide. To make this determination the forensic psychiatrist looks into the victim’s medical, school, work and military histories; interview family, friends and associates; and evaluates autopsy, police and witness reports.

The goal is to assess whether the victim was the type of person who was living in a stressful enough situation to take their own life or living a lifestyle that made them an easy target for a killer.

Geographic Profiling Geographic profiling, is a technique based on the premise that serial offenders have certain comfort zones within which they feel free to carry out their crimes. Geographic profiler likes to know where the victim was abducted, where the actual assault or murder took place, and where the body was dumped.

Whenever several assaults have occurred, profilers have several such locations with which to work and can then locate the points on a map and define the killer’s domain. The killer’s domain may show murders clustered in an area, which may indicate the killer isn’t mobile, may not own a car or have a job.

If the range is broad, the perpetrator is highly mobile, may have a car with high mileage. Determining which victim was killed first is important for investigators because the comfort zones for most serial killers usually begin small and grow with each killing. The first victim probably was abducted closer to the killer’s home or workplace.

Determining the order of the crimes is straightforward if the victims are found shortly after the crime. If the bodies are dumped in remote areas, the order in which the victims were killed may not be the order in which the bodies are found. Forensic anthropologist may be brought in to assess approximate times of death. Having this knowledge may be crucial in identifying the killer.

Linking Criminals and Crime Scenes Serial offenders are the most difficult criminal to apprehend. They attack atrangers, have no obvious motives, and are mobile. Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) enables authorities to match fingerprints from various crime scenes and suspects, the FBI databases also match serial offenders with crimes and profiles.

First such database was the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC), which lead to the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (VICAP) and PROFILER, which maintains profiles of serial murderers. Take crime scene information and enter into the database. Any crimes with similar characteristics will be identified. Investigator can look at crimes to find out whether the same perpetrator perhaps committed both crimes.