"PROFILING THE PROFILER; HOW JOHN DOUGLAS GOT VIOLENT CRIMINALS TO TALK WITH THE F.B.I.

PROFILING THE PROFILER; HOW JOHN DOUGLAS GOT VIOLENT CRIMINALS TO TALK WITH THE F.B.I.

___________________________________________________ 

   John Douglas took on the undertaking of trying to interview

violent criminals behind bars across the country. Initially,  upon

coming up with the idea, didn't have any planned goals in mind.

He saw the best way to approach these interviews would simply

to get the subjects to talk. With that beginning baby step, Douglas

began what would continue to be important research for

generations to come. Not to mention, the basic ideas and

principles that he developed are STILL used in modern day

practices of this sort.

   Douglas was pleasantly surprised that such offenders were

willing to be interviewed or share any information at all. Douglas

had the expectation that many of the criminals that they desired

to talk to, had been in prison for decades, were never getting out,

and, thus, seemingly, had nothing to lose or gain by agreeing to

be interviewed by Douglas.

   The reasons for prisoner's participation varied in its motive: 

everything from boredom, remorse, an opportunity to relive

their crimes by discussing them out loud. For some that were

interviewed, they shared it had transformed their lives. Douglas

himself believes that prisoners agreed to talk, often, was their

EGO.

  By the time a person is incarcerated, for a violent crime, that

person has already faced a number of interviews: interrogation

by detectives, lawyers, evaluations before sentencing, interviews

with psychiatrists/psychologists in person.  Douglas noted a 

tendency to not be good historians; they tended to tell the

interviewer what they wanted to hear vs. their true feelings.

  Douglas shared that they had to guard themselves against 

"fooled" by hardened criminals. He did this by emerging himself

into the case file. It gave Douglas direct access to the answers why

they did what they did/the accuracy of their reporting/truth vs. 

lies, in what the prisoner had actually done via their crimes. In

addition to reviewing lengthy case files, Douglas also went over

psychiatric reports, prison evaluations, IQ tests; anything available

on the prisoner. Douglas believed that the best way to get honest

answers, was to have the ability to confront the subjects with

inconsistencies that deviate from known information in their

case file. 

      The second thing that Douglas did, intentionally, to ensure

that he and others would not be "fooled" by the prisoners, was

the commitment to spend as much time as necessary. in the 

interview, to take as long as it would take, to "move past the

small talk." Cutting through what Douglas called the "bullshit",

"the phony sentiment" to wear down the prisoner to get to heart

of the reasons behind the prisoner's violent behaviors.

     Douglas detailed that it was one thing to interview, but quite

bit more difficult to be face-to-face-woth the prisoner. Through

practice, Douglas learned that dressing-down made the prisoners

more comfortable right away. The more Douglas and his team

conducte interviews, the better and better he felt they were

becoming at their job.  Douglas discovered that the paranoid do 

not like eye contact; it only increased their sense of paranoia.

The grandiose kind, liked domination and putting others 

'below" them. Some prisoners, he found, just wanted ATTENTION.

  Douglas developed a working theory that recognizing  the basic

elements  must have something in common was his first step.

The next step was to understand how their differences in

personality,  criminal sophistication, and MOTIVE lead the person

to, for example, become a mugger.

    Everyone that Douglas interviewed had come from 

dysfunctional backgrounds. Sometimes themes were overt;

physical and sexual abuse, alcoholic parents, Douglas found that

in these cases there tended to be an absence of a loving or

nurturing atmosphere. Some came from homes where punishment

was inconsistent at best. Douglas set out to understand what,

motivates many of these guys to have to desire of power and

control over their victims. Douglas noticed how offenders

overcompensated for this perceived loss of power and control.

Those subjects who are angry and violent, the majority learn,

across their lifetime and or in therapy and or detention 

appropriate coping strategies for anger that do not involve

hurting one's self or others. For those prisoners that were unable

to develop coping mechanisms, act out violently. There are 

emotions, such as anger, that can have a focused and healthy

outlet; (ie, competitive sports, and putting feelings into the game).

The prisoners that Douglas was interviewing had not developed

a healthy outlet for their emotions. Typically, this manifested in

prisoners who self-soothed negative emotions, by making others

hurt too, torturing small animals before moving on to adult crimes.

These prisoners were manipulative, dominating,  and attempt

to control OVER a victim. This is how they overcome their feelings

of inferiority. For Douglas, this was just the beginning of a 

historic program that the FBI continues to implore with

prisoners across the country from a variety of backgrounds,

circumstances, and conditions.