Criminal Profiling
Dr. Hatcher was an expert in forensic areas, including the study of the mind of various types of murderers. In dealing with the cult leader, David Koresh, in the Waco incident, he believed that it was important to understand that cults require constant excitement to bind them to the cult leader. He said a violent confrontation with cult members played into their beliefs of being persecuted, increasing the probability of violent deaths. In his analysis, the first stage of violence occurs when the cult leader tells his followers that evil forces are out to get the cult so the cult must develop security to protect itself.
Dr. Hatcher analyzed the behavioral patterns of the Tylenol killer and determined that the Tylenol killer's thinking patterns were similar to that of an arsonist or bomber, not that of a mass murderer. While many killers receive some satisfaction in stalking their victims, the Tylenol killer was more technically oriented and removed, not specifically choosing any one victim and not seeming to care who got killed. Unlike most killers, he had no direct contact with his victim.
Through such careful study and organized observation of criminal behavior, Dr Hatcher became expert in criminal profiling.
Read more about this topic: Chris Hatcher (psychologist)
Famous quotes containing the word criminal:
“Think of admitting the details of a single case of the criminal court into our thoughts, to stalk profanely through their very sanctum sanctorum for an hour, ay, for many hours! to make a very barroom of the mind’s inmost apartment, as if for so long the dust of the street had occupied us,—the very street itself, with all its travel, its bustle, and filth, had passed through our thoughts’ shrine! Would it not be an intellectual and moral suicide?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)