The Amazing Dr. Brussel

Cases aren’t solved based on the profile alone, as television often portrays. We use profiling to provide direction, during the investigative process and/or during interrogations with suspects. Profiling, has at times, led to such an accurate portrayal of suspects, one can’t help but wonder if the profiler possesses psychic abilities. At other times, the profile has been almost completely incorrect. Often, the reality lies somewhere in between these extremes.

To demonstrate how much profiling can assist in the apprehension of an offender, I am including a well known and successful case study. On the flip side of the coin, to illustrate how profiling can sometimes lead police down the wrong path, I will be including in a later blog, a case the critics of this technique find irresistible to cite.

Between the years 1940 and 1956, a crazed bomber struck fear into the hearts of New Yorkers. Multiple bombs were placed around the city, the vast majority of which detonated. Police progress in the case was slow, and it wasn’t long before public and political pressures mounted. Desperate, the police contacted psychiatrist Dr. James A. Brussel, requesting a profile of the offender, hoping it would help to focus the investigation.

The first bomb had been left at Consolidated Edison, an energy utility company, in November 1940. The bomb failed to detonate, and the note it was wrapped in read, “Con Edison Crooks, this is for you.” A year later, a similar device was found, and due to its location and construction, the authorities theorized the same bomber was on his way to the Consolidated Edison company, but was forced to abandon the explosive. During the second World War, the bomber sent a note to the police stating that he would abandon his efforts during the war due to his “patriotic feelings,” but stated that, “…later I will bring the con Edison to justice – they will pay for their dastardly deeds.”

The bomber was quiet for the next nine years. Then, in 1950, a third bomb was discovered. After this point, events began to change, and the bomber’s fourth bomb actually detonated at the New York Public Library, followed by a fifth explosion in Grand Central station. Over the next 6 years, 30 bombs were planted, most of which detonated.

In constructing his profile, Brussel asserted that the police should be on the lookout for a “male, former employee of Consolidated Edison, injured while working there so seeking revenge, paranoid, 50 years old, neat and meticulous persona, foreign background, some formal education, unmarried, living with female relatives but not mother who probably died when he was young, upon capture he will be wearing a buttoned up double breasted jacket.”

Dr. James A. Brussel

Brussel played probabilities in assuming the bomber would be male, as the majority of bombers are. The hostility relayed in the content of the notes, led Brussel to believe a former employee, feeling wronged by the company was the most likely culprit. The claim that the bomber was foreign was based on the language of the note. The author spoke in an overly formal way, using phrases such as “dastardly deeds” and never utilizing contemporary slang. The most impressive aspect of the profile proved to be Brussel’s “psychiatric and psychoanalytical interpretations” of the bomber. Brussel believed the bomber had an Oedipal complex. Knowing that most with this complex are unmarried and live with female relatives, he felt this would be true in the bomber’s case. Brussel’s belief in the presence of this complex was based on the way the bomber wrote “breast-like” W’s, the “phallic construction” of the bombs, and the fact that the bomber would “slash” and “penetrate” the seats in movie theaters where he planted bombs.

Using this information, the police instructed Con Edison to scour their past and current employee files, looking for someone who matched the description. George Metesky, a former employee of the company who suffered an accident at work and filed an unsuccessful disability claim, soon came to the attention of the investigators. Metesky had written a letter to the company, which referred to their “dastardly deeds.”
Metesky was arrested soon after the profile’s construction and confessed immediately. He was escorted to the police station in his buttoned up double breasted jacket.

George Metesky

http://www.all-about-forensic-psychology.com/criminal-profiling.html

Nature vs. Nurture...It's Not an Either / Or (Part II)

To further build on my previous post, when an un-nurturing environment meets an individual already genetically susceptible to sociopathic tendencies, a violent serial offender is born. It is not inconceivable that depending on genetics people are more or less prone to emotions such as anger, fragility or meekness, complacence and so forth. Likewise, it is reasonable to conclude that some individuals are born without a strong sense of empathy. Based on the environment they are exposed to during childhood, they may learn consideration and fairness to help balance what their genetic coding has left lacking; or, their lack of concern for others may be further encouraged as the product of an abusive and neglectful upbringing.

This would explain why two boys who grow up in similarly abusive environments would diverge later in life to where one is a contributing member of society, while the other becomes a serial killer unleashing the furies of his rage on hapless victims.

Researchers seeking to determine whether genetics are a factor pertaining to issues such as violence and alcoholism, for example, have found that adoptive children have rates of use and abuse closer to that of their natural parents than to their adoptive parents (Goode, 2008, p. 61). This signifies that a part of who we are is determined even before birth. The question then becomes, what do we do about it?

While it may not be feasible to believe that we can determine who children will become, it is important to understand the influences that act upon individuals, in order to comprehend them. This is where the criminal profiling comes into play. Profilers are simply attempting to understand the person behind the crimes. The more we understand motives, personality, behavior, environmental influences, and the events that led to the obliteration of empathetic feelings, as well as the world as viewed by sociopaths, the better we can become at following the clues to the perpetrator before the body count climbs to double digits. It’s all about understanding, not about fortune telling.

Goode, Erich. (2008). Drugs in American Society. New York: McGraw Hill.

Nature vs. Nurture...It's Not an Either / Or

Serial killers are fascinating to us because they deviate so significantly from the norm. These sadists enjoy watching the souls of their victims slip from bodies that grow ever more still.
Robert Ressler, a criminologist who is well known for his work in criminal profiling, has claimed to have traced psychopathic behavior to fractured families. According to a report by Everett Gratrix (1993), Ressler believes that “serial killers are less likely to be born than created.” Ressler has worked with and interviewed over 100 mass and serial killers, attempting to “understand the events leading up to the crimes as the killer saw them…” (Gratrix). In his work, Ressler has found that almost all of the killers he interviewed sustained physical and emotional abuse as children. Also, Ressler determined that “mental illness, criminal activity or alcohol or drug abuse existed in the immediate families” (Gratrix). Ressler also goes on to explain that serial killers are disproportionately present in North America because of the demise of the nuclear family, violence on television, easy access to weapons, and a lack of supervision.

While I agree with Ressler, that these factors indeed create a rich environment in which to breed a sociopath, I feel that he places too much prominence on nurture, and pays no attention to nature. Our environments greatly contribute to the people we become without a doubt. It is absurd, however, to believe that we are all genetically identical in terms of our emotions and personalities when we are born.

We know that anti-social personality disorder, or sociopathy, is present in all serial killers. "Current experts believe that sociopaths are an unfortunate fusion of interpersonal, bioligical and sociocutltural disasters."

According to the DSM IIIR, a psychological surveying tool, between 3-5% of men, and less than 1% of women are sociopaths. Shirley Scott argues that it is the sociopath's perception that others are worthless and available for manipulation, combined with a history of perceived injustices that lead to gruesome murders.

Current tests have shown that the nervous system of a sociopath is indeed different. The sociopath feels less fear and anxiety than the average person. One study found that the sociopath's arousal levels are quite low, leading to impulsiveness and thrill-seeking. Also interesting are the findings of several more studies that have determined that the biological relatives of adopted sociopaths were 4-5 times more likely to also be sociopathic than the average person; and, when sociopahts inherit developmental disabilities, it is usually a stunted development of the higher function of the brain. 30-38% of sociopaths show abnormal brain wave patterns, with the abnormal activity being found in the temporal lobes and the limbic system, which control memory and emotions. These studies indicate a powerful argument toward a modern day Frankenstein theory that serial killers really can be made.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/tick/psych_6.html

Gratrix, E. (1993). When Men Become Monsters. Alberta Report / Newsmagazine, 20(16), 27. Retrieved June 11, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.