◆ SpookStack

Dr. Burgess axtended, ongoing systematic study of convicted offenders in order to better understand the patterns and dynamics of criminal behavior. Sexual homicide was selected as the initial area of pri- mary focus and concentration because itis a lethal type of crime that attracts a great deal of public attention. Background of FB! Profiling For the past few years, efforts at developing psychological profiles of suspects for individual cases of sexual assault/homicide have been undertak- en by members of the Behavioral Sci- ence Unit.! These cases were referred to the unit by local police departments. From the available evidence and infor- mation, unit members developed a psychological composite of the sus- pect. The approach is one of brain- storming, intuition, and educated guesswork. The product was the result of years of accumulated investigative experience in the field and familiarity Dr. Groth with a large number of cases. No for- mal data bank, however, has been de- veloped against which new cases can systematically be compared. Also, there is little or no followup once an offender has been successfully appre- hended and convicted. Consequently, there is very little subsequent input of information which would serve to sharpen and refine the existing body of knowledge. Given the opportunity to interview identified offenders and realizing the need to develop a protocol to insure systematic retrieval of pertinent data, the Training Division engaged the serv- ices of Dr. A. Nicholas Groth and Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess, two experts in the field of sexual assault who had been conducting specialized police schools on rape and child molestation for law enforcement agents at the FBI Academy. This professional affiliation provided a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the sex murderer, com- bining contributions from both law en- forcement and the behavioral sciences. From a review of the pertinent literature and from the direct, firsthand field experience and prior work of the researchers, this team proceeded to develop a data schedule for investiga- tive inquiry and offender assessment. 31 Special Agent Ressler This instrument provided not only guidelines for interviewing subjects but also a system of recording and coding relevant data to permit computer anal- ysis and retrieval. This protocol (which continues to undergo revision and re- finement) is divided into five sections: (1). Physical characteristics of the of- fender, (2) background development, (3) offense data, (4) victim data, and (5) crime scene data. It encompasses the offender's physical description, medical/psychiatric history, early home life and upbringing, schooling, military service, occupation/vocational history, sexual development and marital histo- ry, recreational interests, criminal histo- ry, the characteristics of his offense, modus operandi, victim selection, and the scene of his crime. Once the assessment schedule had been designed, it was adminis- tered to three groups of sexual offend- ers—sex murderers, rapists and child molesters, and sex offenders confined to a mental health facility. During the first year (1979) of the study, interviews with 26 men who were convicted of a