Understanding the motivations won't be enough to prevent the crimes Mass murders are becoming a depressingly familiar routine in the United States; we can now expect.
Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email UNDERSTANDING what makes a person commit murder or a sex crime is never an easy task but forensic psychologist Dr Kathy Charles knows exactly how their minds work. She has worked alongside police to profile criminals and dedicates her time to helping young offenders understand the reasoning behind their actions.
Now Dr Charles, 34, from Edinburgh, is passing on her expert knowledge to Scotland’s next generation of forensic psychologists. She is set to host a series of fascinating lectures detailing her experiences on a number of cases. She said: “I’ve always wanted to know why some people commit crimes and others don’t. “It’s important to know how the mind works, especially if the focus of a police investigation is a serial killer, rapist or stalker.
“I worked on profiling Ipswich prostitute murderer Steve Wright and have profiled rapists and stalkers, too. “Committing the offence is one thing but understanding why is completely different.
“That’s where logic comes in and I often say it’s like piecing a jigsaw together. “In some cases there is no obvious suspect and that’s where profiling becomes useful. “By looking at the type of crime, the way it happened and the timeline, you can profile the type of person likely to be responsible.
“In many cases, when the suspect is caught the profile is almost spot-on.” Dr Charles believes that a personality disorder is at the root of serious offences, including murder, rape and stalking. After studying hundreds of high-profile cases from around the world, she says three stand out most – American serial killer Ted Bundy, Ipswich murderer Steve Wright and British doctor Harold Shipman. She explained: “They all seem like ordinary people, but they all share one thing – a psychotic personality that gets a thrill from killing. “Their nervous systems are different from others in the sense that they don’t get a thrill from some of the things that normal people would. “Bundy and Wright were predatory killers, who took the opportunity to strike, believing they wouldn’t be caught.
“But Shipman held a position of trust as a doctor and he hid behind this. “People turned to him for help and that’s when he took the opportunity to end their lives. “They are all cold, callous individuals who do not share an ounce of sympathy or remorse for what they did.” Stalking is another issue that Dr Charles works on, particularly profiling the type of people most likely to commit this offence. She said: “There are two types of stalkers – a person who knows you and a complete stranger. “The most dangerous type of stalker is someone you know, especially an ex-partner. “If the relationship has ended and they feel rejected, they then struggle to come to terms with this and obsess about the victim.” Dr Charles is also a lecturer in forensic psychology at Edinburgh Napier University. She said: “I feel I’ve gathered so much experience over the years that it’s time to pass it on.
“I am also hosting four lectures for people who have an interest in forensic psychology but cannot afford to go to university. “I’ve had to narrow my list of subjects down but the really interesting elements that people want to know are still there.” After years of studying the human mind, Dr Charles admits there is little that shocks her. Memeo instant backup deutsche. She added: “Psychology is so important when it comes to breaking down the reason why a person has committed an offence. “If we don’t establish exactly why it happened then we can’t understand it properly ourselves. “I’ve seen a lot, read quite a bit and heard even more – there’s very little that shocks or surprises me now.”.
Sunday, February 1, 2015, 2:00 AM SHE’S got some killer guests lined up — and for some critics, that may be a problem. “The Mind of a Murderer” is a new reality series on Investigation Discovery. In it, Michelle Ward — described as a real-life “Silence of the Lambs” Clarice Starling — will interview violent murderers on TV, hoping to gain insight into the reasons people kill. But is it wise to put jailed murderers in the spotlight?
“The goal here is to try and help the audience understand them (the killers),” says Ward, who has an M.A. In psychology from USC. Where she studied clinical neuroscience and behavioral genetics. “We cannot prevent crime if we cannot predict crime and we cannot predict crime without understanding what drives criminal behavior,” she says. The show debuts on Feb. If we don’t hear from them, how will we ever understand and prevent similar crimes? Ward stresses that while her show does provide air time to cold-blooded killers, it will not be a platform to celebrate their infamy.
Jason Bohn is brought into Queens Supreme Court for his arraignment on killing his girlfriend. His case is the first examined on “The Mind of a Murderer.” (Richard Harbus/for New York Daily News) Go figure that the first episode is a New York story.
It’s a profile and interview with Wall Street lawyer turned murderer, Jason Bohn. Last April he was sentenced to life in prison for savagly beating and strangling his girlfriend, Danielle Thomas, in 2012. Her final moments, in which she begged for her life, were caught on a voice-mail believed to come after the accidental dialing of a friend’s number. The recording was played at the trial. Cops had found Thomas, 27, in the bathtub of the couple’s Queens apartment, surrounded by ice. To this day, Ivy-League-educated Bohn claims he has no recollection of the murder. At his sentencing, he dramatically collapsed at the defense table, weeping and bleeding from his nose from the impact.
“Given his resume, you wouldn’t expect him to kill his girlfriend, so we need to know why,” Ward says. She adds that Bohn’s father was a drug addict who abused him as a child, but his mother is a brilliant publishing executive who earns millions. “He’s got the demons of his father, but he’s smart and calculating like his mother,” Ward says. “Jail is not filled with those types of people, so in order to study them, you have to be in front of them.”. Megyn Kelly takes Mike Huckabee to task on Fox News.
(Fox News) Meeting Bohn was “chilling,” Ward says. “I’m not usually afraid. But I was incredibly afraid to be in the room with him.”. Some of the talking heads at Fox News Channel are fighting.
Last week former GOP vice-presential candidate and Fox contributor Sarah Palin slammed Bill O’Reilly. He had mocked her for the inevitable chatter about how she might be a 2016 presidential candidate. And host Megyn Kelly ripped Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Fox host. Another possible presidential candidate, Huckabee had complained in a radio interview about how “trashy women are in New York.” News flash: Even though Palin and Huckabee have been on the FNC payroll in the past, in this instance O’Reilly and Kelly were just doing their jobs. They were holding potential presidential candidates responsible for their words and actions. Bravo to both.