John E. Douglas

John Edward Douglas (born June 18, 1945) is a retired special agent and unit chief in the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was one of the first criminal profilers and has written books on criminal psychology.

John E. Douglas
Born
John Edward Douglas

(1945-06-18) June 18, 1945
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Alma mater
Occupation
Years active1970–1996

Early life

John Edward Douglas was born in Brooklyn, New York. A veteran of four years in the United States Air Force (1966–1970), he holds several degrees: a B.S. in sociology/physical education/recreation from Eastern New Mexico University; an M.S. in education psychology/guidance and counseling from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee; an Ed.S. in Administration and Supervision/Adult Education from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee; and a PhD in comparing techniques for teaching police officers how to classify homicides from Nova Southeastern University.

Career

Douglas joined the FBI in 1970 and his first assignment was in Detroit, Michigan. In the field, he served as a sniper on the local FBI SWAT team and later became a hostage negotiator. He transferred to the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) in 1977 where he taught hostage negotiation and applied criminal psychology at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia to new FBI special agents, field agents, and police officers from all over the United States. He created and managed the FBI's Criminal Profiling Program and was later promoted to unit chief of the Investigative Support Unit, a division of the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC).[1][2][3]

While traveling around the country providing instruction to police, Douglas began interviewing serial killers and other violent sex offenders at various prisons. He interviewed some of the most notable violent criminals in recent history as part of the study, including David Berkowitz, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson, Lynette Fromme, Sara Jane Moore, Edmund Kemper, James Earl Ray, Sirhan Sirhan, Richard Speck, Donald Harvey, Gary Ridgway and Joseph Paul Franklin. He used the information gleaned from these interviews in the book Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives, followed by the Crime Classification Manual (CCM). Douglas later received two Thomas Jefferson Awards for academic excellence from the University of Virginia for his work on the study.[1][2][3]

Profiling

Douglas examined crime scenes and created profiles of the perpetrators, describing their habits and attempting to predict their next moves. In cases where his work helped to capture the criminals, he built strategies for interrogating and prosecuting them as well. At the time of criminal profiling's conception, Douglas claimed to have been doubted and criticized by his own colleagues.[4] The efficacy of profiling remains unclear as many studies have shown it is often too vague to be definitive enough to build a comprehensive criminal profile.[5]

Individual cases

Douglas first made a public name for himself with his involvement in the Atlanta murders of 1979–81, initially through an interview he did with People Magazine about his profiling of the as yet unidentified killer as a young black man. When Wayne Williams was arrested, Douglas was widely reported as stating that Williams was "looking pretty good for a good percentage of the killings." This quote was taken out of context. “I said he fit the profile and added carefully that if it did turn out to be him, I thought he “looked pretty good for a good percentage of the killings.” The story hit the news wire, and the next day I was being quoted all over the country, on all the network news programs, in all the major newspapers, including a story in the Atlanta Constitution with the headline “FBI Man: Williams May Have Slain Many””Douglas received an official letter of censure from the FBI Director for this. However, he attended the subsequent legal proceedings and helped the prosecution trap Williams into showing anger, which was key in showing the jury that Williams was the murderer.[6] Douglas subsequently received a letter of commendation from the FBI and a cash award for prosecutive consultation during the trial of Williams.

Douglas has written extensively in support of Amanda Knox, presenting evidence supporting her innocence in his book The Forgotten Killer. In addition Douglas provided an analysis in the JonBenet Ramsey case and concluded that neither John, Patsy, nor their son were responsible for the death of JonBenet.

In January 2015, creators of the TV show Criminal Minds confirmed that the characters of FBI profilers Jason Gideon and David Rossi were based on Douglas.[7]

A screenplay adapted from the book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit was picked up by Netflix.[8] Mindhunter stars Jonathan Groff, who plays the character Special Agent Holden Ford, a lead character based on Douglas.[9][10]

Publications

Non-fiction
  • Douglas, John E., Ann W. Burgess, R.N., D.N Sc., Allen G. Burgess, Robert K. Ressler. Crime Classification Manual: A Standard System for Investigating and Classifying Violent Crimes. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books. 1992. ISBN 978-0-669-24638-4
  • Douglas, John E., Mark Olshaker. Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit. New York: Scribner. 1995. ISBN 978-0-671-01375-2
  • Douglas, John E., Mark Olshaker. Journey into Darkness. New York: Scribner. 1997. ISBN 978-0-684-83304-0
  • Douglas, John E., Mark Olshaker. Obsession: The FBI's Legendary Profiler Probes the Psyches of Killers, Rapists and Stalkers and Their Victims and Tells How to Fight Back. New York: Scribner. 1998. ISBN 978-0-684-84560-9
  • Douglas, John E. Guide to Careers in the FBI. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1998. ISBN 978-0-684-85504-2
  • Douglas, John E., Mark Olshaker. The Anatomy of Motive: The FBI's Legendary Mindhunter Explores the Key to Understanding and Catching Violent Criminals. New York: Scribner. 1999. ISBN 978-0-684-84598-2
  • Douglas, John E., Mark Olshaker. The Cases That Haunt Us. New York: Scribner. 2000. ISBN 978-0-684-84600-2
  • Douglas, John E., John Douglas' Guide to the Police Officer Exams."Kaplan Publishing. 2000. ISBN 978-0-684-85506-6
  • Douglas, John E., Stephen Singular. Anyone You Want Me to Be: A True Story of Sex and Death on the Internet. New York: Scribner. 2003. ISBN 978-0-7432-2635-6
  • Douglas, John E. John Douglas's Guide to Landing a Career in Law Enforcement. McGraw-Hill. 2004. ISBN 978-0-07-141717-4
  • Douglas, John E., Ann W. Burgess, R.N., D.N Sc., Allen G. Burgess, Robert K. Ressler. Crime Classification Manual: A Standard System for Investigating and Classifying Violent Crimes, 2nd Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 2006. ISBN 978-0-7879-8642-1
  • Douglas, John E., Johnny Dodd. Inside the Mind of BTK: The True Story Behind the Thirty-Year Hunt for the Notorious Wichita Serial Killer. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 2007. ISBN 978-0-7879-8484-7
  • Douglas, John E., Mark Olshaker. Law & Disorder. New York: Kensington 2013. ISBN 978-0-7582-7312-3
  • Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit, October 24, 2017, with Mark Olshaker.
  • Douglas, John E., Mark Olshaker. The Killer Across the Table: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter. New York: HarperCollins. 2019. ISBN 978-0-0629-1063-9

Fiction
  • Douglas, John E., Mark Olshaker. Broken Wings (Mindhunters). Atria. 1999. ISBN 978-0-671-02391-1
  • Douglas, John E. Man Down: A Broken Wings Thriller. (alternate title: Man Down, Vol. 2) Atria. 2002. ISBN 978-0-671-02392-8
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See also

References
  1. Douglas, John. Ann W. Burgess, R.N., D.N Sc., Allen G. Burgess, Robert K. Ressler. "Crime Classification Manual: A Standard System for Investigating and Classifying Violent Crimes, 2nd Edition" Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine San Francisco. Jossey-Bass. 2006. ISBN 978-0-7879-8642-1
  2. "Publisher-supplied biographical information about contributor(s) for Library of Congress control number 98035527". catdir.loc.gov.
  3. Bowman, David."Profiler" Archived June 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Interview @ Salon.com July 8, 1999.
  4. Douglas, John E., and Mark Olshaker. Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit. New York. Scribner. 1995. ISBN 978-0-671-01375-2
  5. Gladwell, Malcolm (November 11, 2007). "Dangerous Minds: The Difficulties of Criminal Profiling". The New Yorker. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  6. Mindhunter, pg 221-5
  7. "5 CBS Sync Facts from Nelson's Sparrow Criminal Minds S10 E13". Archived from the original on March 10, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  8. Friedlander, Whitney (December 22, 2015). "David Fincher, Charlize Theron's Mind Hunter Series Set at Netflix". Variety. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  9. Cooper, Mariah (March 9, 2016). "Jonathan Groff to star in Netflix series Mindhunter". Washington Blade. Archived from the original on October 28, 2017. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  10. "Holt McCallany on Twitter". Twitter. May 22, 2016. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved October 16, 2017.

Bibliography
  • Ressler, Robert K., Ann W. Burgess. John E. Douglas. Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books. 1988. ISBN 978-0-669-16559-3
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