Professor visits Belfast to show how criminal profiling has never helped catch serial killers

By Graeme Cousins
Published 26th Oct 2022, 15:26 BST
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Professor Craig Jackson will be in Belfast in December aiming to dispel the myth that serial killers can be caught using criminal profiling.

Developed by the FBI in the 1970s, criminal profiling is used in countless serial murder investigations globally. Using information about a crime, crime scenes, and victims, profilers compose behavioural profiles of wanted. The general public believes profiling to be a reliable and valid scientific way of investigating serial crimes, but Professor Jackson, a Psychology expert at Birmingham City University, says that the reality is far from that.

Professor Jackson has contributed to over 50 documentaries about violent crimes and murder, and in the Limelight on December 13 he will reveal evidence showing profiling has never resulted in the identification, apprehension and conviction of serial murderers. Focusing on some of the most infamous and perplexing serial murder cases in FBI history, the show will reveal how criminal profilers often got it so wrong.

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Cases include the manhunts for The BTK (Bind Torture Kill) serial murderer, The Trailside killer, The Unabomber, The Tylenol poisoner, The Yorkshire ripper, The London nail-bomber, The Grindr killer, the Gay Slayer, The Washington beltway snipers, and most infamously, the unsolved case of The Zodiac killer.

The Myth of Serial Killer Profiling in the Limelight on December 13The Myth of Serial Killer Profiling in the Limelight on December 13
The Myth of Serial Killer Profiling in the Limelight on December 13

The way many of these cases were solved will be surprising and the truth about criminal profiling as a pseudo-science will be demonstrated as Professor Jackson dispels many “FBI myths” about serial murderers – they are not “organised” or “disorganised” personalities or dysfunctional loners, they do not all take souvenirs from victims or torture animals, and they were not bed-wetters as children. Very few of them are ‘twisted geniuses’ either.

He said: “Serial murderers have used knowledge of criminal profiling to misdirect police investigations and continue killing, and we will examine how the BTK and Zodiac were not even recognised as a serial murderers by the FBI until both killers claimed responsibility.

“We will look at serial murderers who correspond with the police or media, and how these killers provide many clues, but often remain free.”

Tickets for The Myth of Serial Killer Profiling in the Limelight on December 13 at 7pm are available from Ticketmaster.ie