In the mid-1970s, Robert Ressler and John Douglas of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) began interviewing serial offenders. However, it wasn’t until Dr. Ann Burgess created a 57-page questionnaire that they recognized interesting patterns in the data. Behind these two famous men was the female Mindhunter, whose groundbreaking ideas transformed criminal profiling into a helpful methodology. In this Bonus Episode: A Conversation with Dr. Ann Burgess, I speak with one of the original Mindhunters, Dr. Ann Burgess.

Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess, D.N.Sc., APRN, FAAN, is an internationally recognized pioneer in the assessment and treatment of victims of trauma and abuse. She’s received numerous honors, including the Sigma Theta Tau International Audrey Hepburn Award, the American Nurses’ Association Hildegard Peplau Award, and the Sigma Theta Tau International Episteme Laureate Award. Her courtroom testimony has been described as “groundbreaking,” and she has been called a “nursing pathfinder.” She has been designated a “Living Legend” by the American Academy of Nursing, the academy’s highest honor.

Her research with victims began when she co-founded, with Boston College sociologist Lynda Lytle Holmstrom, one of the first hospital-based crisis counseling programs at Boston City Hospital. She then worked with FBI Academy special agents to study serial offenders and the links between child abuse, juvenile delinquency, and subsequent perpetration. Her work with Boston College nursing colleague Carol Hartman led to the study of very young victims and the impact of trauma on their growth and development, their families, and their communities. Her work continues in the study of elder abuse in nursing homes, cyberstalking, and Internet sex crimes.

NOTES:  Transcripts of this episode are available here and in your Apple Podcasts app.  All links are available at astudyincrime.com. Take a listener survey to help shape future episodes!

Sources for this episode include the following:

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• The new Hulu series: Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer
  

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A Study in Crime™ is written and produced by Scott Fulmer, author of the true-crime memoir Confessions of a Private Eye. A veteran private investigator, Scott has spent the last 30 years conducting investigations throughout the U.S. He’s a decorated combat veteran of the Gulf War and lives in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio.