Author Q&A Session: Katherine Ramsland

Congratulations on the publication of your book The Psychology of Death Investigations: Behavioral Analysis for Psychological Autopsy and Criminal Profiling. What would you like your audience to take away from the book?

 

I hope readers benefit from my approach to case analysis that uses psychological principles that have been developed for specific types of investigation. Psychological autopsy and behavioral profiling, as well as analysing behavior for evidence of staged crimes, has a long and interesting history of research.

 

What inspired you to write this book?

I teach a course, Psychological Sleuthing, in which I have used the cases and methods included in this book. I waited a long time for someone to write a textbook on psychological autopsy, and no one did, so I wrote it myself. I’ve written several books involving profiling, but this is the first time I’ve put these methods together in a way that is useful for my course. Yet it’s also an accessible read outside the classroom use.

 

What are the main developments in research that you’re seeing in your subject area of expertise? How does your book relate to these recent developments?

 

In the fields for which psychological analysis is relevant, researchers and practitioners have been trying to standardize the concepts and methods so that they can get these analyses admitted into the courtroom. I describe the various efforts from the earliest days until now, as well as presenting some of the issues that must still be resolved.

 

What audience did you have in mind whilst writing you book?

 

Psychologists, criminologists, suicidologists, coroners and detectives or private investigators will benefit most from this work.

 

What makes your book stand out from its competitors?

The Psychology of Death Investigations addresses the two primary areas of psychological analysis for death investigators, provides the latest research and discussion on both topics, and offers an analysis of suicide notes that has not been published anywhere else. I also address the issue of staged scenes and include some very unique cases. In addition, I discuss research from cognitive psychology that is relevant to the mental state of investigators. I have not seen that done before.

 

What did you enjoy about writing the book?

 

My favorite aspect of investigation is the focus on case analysis – figuring out the puzzles of what people have done. Adding the psychological layer, such as suicidology, provides tools for enhancing our approach to investigations. I enjoyed finding cases to illustrate points, especially those with surprising angles, like people who set up their own murders, or who stage their own deaths in some way. One man had watched an episode of CSI to contrive a way to make his suicide look like a homicide. He failed, but it makes you wonder if others might have succeeded. A serial killer had used the death of one victim to seem related to another as a homicide/suicide to deflect investigators. Initially, the police accepted this possibility.

 

What is your academic background?

 

I am a professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in death investigation and behavioral criminology. I have published 64 books and over 1,000 articles. I’ve been on exhumation teams and have consulted for coroners and offered training for law enforcement and attorneys. Among the activities I plan for my courses is a crime scene analysis at a crime scene house we’ve set up on our campus. My undergraduate degrees are in psychology and philosophy, and my four graduate degrees are in clinical psychology, forensic psychology, philosophy, and criminal justice.

 

What is innovative about your research?

 

The most innovative aspect of my research for this book is a study I undertook with a coroner on the analysis of themes in suicide notes, to go along with a 60-year history of focus on these themes. In addition, I brought together the two primary investigative techniques that rely on psychology into a single book.

 

Who has influenced you the most?

 

The researcher and practitioner who has most influenced me in suicidology is Edwin Shneidman. The forensic innovator I most admire is nineteenth-century French pathologist Alexandre Lacassagne. I have worked with half a dozen former FBI profilers, and among them, Gregg McCrary and Robert Ressler had the greatest impact on my sense of behavioral profiling.

 

What do you think are your most significant research accomplishments?

 

I spent 5 years working with the “BTK” serial killer, Dennis Rader to write his criminal autobiography, Confession of a Serial Killer. That would be my most significant research contribution, but The Psychology of Death Investigation also contains original research on suicide notes that could influence a tool for law enforcement; it also provides others with a textbook that covers suicidology and psychological autopsy.

 

What advice would you give to an aspiring researcher in your field?

 

Researchers in this field should focus on standardizing the methods and definitions for greater use in the courtroom, to strengthen investigative incident reconstruction.

 

Do you have plans for future books? What’s next in the pipeline for you?

 

I’m currently working with a former FBI profiler, Mark Safarik, on collecting and analyzing spree killers for workshop material for law enforcement. It’s an ambitious project that takes a big step from case and trend analysis to practical application.