Ep. 161: The Real Life Implications of Pop Culture's Fascination with the Dubious Science of "Criminal Profiling"
Citations Needed11 Touko 2022

Ep. 161: The Real Life Implications of Pop Culture's Fascination with the Dubious Science of "Criminal Profiling"

Criminal Minds. Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer. Inside the Criminal Mind. Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez.

Each of these is the title of a series, fictional or otherwise, or documentary that relies on the work of so-called criminal profilers. They're all premised, more or less, on the same idea: That the ability to venture inside the mind of an individual who's committed a horrific act of violence–say, serial murder, rape, or kidnapping–is the key to figuring out why that crime happened in the first place. This theory may sound promising at first blush; after all, the highest echelons of law enforcement in the US continue to use criminal profiling tactics to this day.

But the reality is that, despite their prevalence in law enforcement both onscreen and off, criminal profiling techniques are largely ineffective, and in many ways, dangerous. Failing to consider institutional factors such as a culture of violence and easy access to weapons, patriarchy, austerity and other social ills that contribute to and reinforce violent crime, criminal profiling focuses almost exclusively on individual experiences and psychological makeup. Meanwhile, it categorizes "criminals" not as people who've been shaped by this social conditioning, but as neuro-deviants whose psychological anatomy is just different from yours or mine.

On this episode, we examine the history of the practice of criminal profiling in the West; how the FBI and entertainment industry work in tandem to glamorize the profession, despite its harms; what the actual effectiveness of profiling is; and how it serves as yet another form of Hollywood copaganda.

Our guests are Thomas MacMillan and Chris Fabricant.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(379)

Ep 240: How the Media's "Burden," the "Straining Resources" Framing Manufactures the Expendable Other

Ep 240: How the Media's "Burden," the "Straining Resources" Framing Manufactures the Expendable Other

In this episode, we discuss the ideological work done by our media's default frame of immigrants, poor seniors, homeless people, and those with disabilities as "burdens" and "strains" on our limited r...

8 Heinä 1h 34min

News Brief: Despite 9-Figure Infusion from Silicon Valley, Abundance Still Seeks Popular Support

News Brief: Despite 9-Figure Infusion from Silicon Valley, Abundance Still Seeks Popular Support

In this news brief, we catch up with Dylan Gyauch-Lewis, senior researcher at the Revolving Door Project, to discuss Abundance's PR problems, why this latest neoliberalism rebrand isn't catching on an...

1 Heinä 38min

News Brief: The ADL's Bogus Origin Story and Its Rise as Ideological Enforcer for Empire and Israel

News Brief: The ADL's Bogus Origin Story and Its Rise as Ideological Enforcer for Empire and Israel

In this News Brief, we talk with Emmaia Gelman, author of The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State, about how––despite posing a civil rights org––the ADL functions as defender of colonialism an...

24 Kesä 42min

Episode 239: The Vague, Capital-Serving Co-Optation of "Affordability" Politics

Episode 239: The Vague, Capital-Serving Co-Optation of "Affordability" Politics

In this episode, we detail the long history of generic "affordability" discourse and how, post-Mamdani, it's become the go-to establishment buzzword justifying tax breaks for developers, deregulation,...

17 Kesä 1h 20min

News Brief: The Call to Boycott—and Delegitimize—the New York Times

News Brief: The Call to Boycott—and Delegitimize—the New York Times

In this News Brief, we talk with Chris Mills Rodrigo from Writers Against The War On Gaza about their campaign to boycott the New York Times and remove the "paper of record" from its pedestal of alleg...

28 Touko 40min

Episode 238: The Fictional, Racist, Paranoia-Sowing "Sleeper Cell" Media Construction

Episode 238: The Fictional, Racist, Paranoia-Sowing "Sleeper Cell" Media Construction

In this episode, we detail the vague, baseless racism-sowing media coverage and pop culture obsession with so-called "sleeper cells," a construction that has consumed post-9/11 America but suffers fro...

20 Touko 1h 30min

Live Show: 'How to Sell a Genocide' Book Talk at The Word Is Change Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY

Live Show: 'How to Sell a Genocide' Book Talk at The Word Is Change Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY

This is a live recording between Nima and Adam at the Word is Change Bookstore May 7, 2026. In this conversation, we discuss key findings that can be found in Adam's new book, How to Sell a Genocide: ...

13 Touko 1h 3min

News Brief: "Peak TV," Streamer Studio Accounting Gimmicks, and the Precarity of Hollywood Labor

News Brief: "Peak TV," Streamer Studio Accounting Gimmicks, and the Precarity of Hollywood Labor

In this News Brief, we talk with Miranda Banks and Kate Fortmueller, authors of the new book Boom to Bust: How Streaming Broke Hollywood Workers, about rising inequality and precarity in Hollywood, st...

6 Touko 47min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

aikalisa
uutiscast
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
rss-podme-livebox
rss-seksicast
otetaan-yhdet
tervo-halme
politiikan-puskaradio
aihe
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-girls-finish-f1rst
rss-mina-ukkola
rss-aijat-hopottaa-podcast
rss-mita-tapahtuu
rss-kaikki-uusiksi
rss-merja-mahkan-rahat
rss-tekoalyfoorumi
rss-asiastudio
rss-pinnalla