Summary: Psychopathic killers are the basis for some must-watch TV, but what really makes them tick? The answer lies somewhere in intermingling of nature and nurture that shapes brain development. In this TEDTalk, Jim Fallon - Sloan Scholar, Fulbright Fellow, and UC Irvine Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology - shows how brain scans and genetic analysis may uncover the faulty wiring in the minds of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Some people wander, get dressed, even eat in their sleep. Others lash out in violent ways. Is it possible that people can commit complex crimes-even murder-while walking in their sleep? With only a dead victim and a seemingly disoriented suspect at the scene of the crime, it's hard to know for sure. This program explores the question, following extensive sleep tests performed on accused...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: I want doctors! I'm gonna kill doctors! I want white coats! In 1993, gunman Damacio Torres shot up the Los Angeles County-USC Healthcare emergency room and took two hostages. Using the Torres case as a springboard, this program explains the tricky business of hostage negotiation while seeking to understand the mentality of hostage-taking. Psychologist Kris Mohandie, SWAT team supervisor Lt....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: James Perry lived a double life. On the surface, he was a loving husband and father-but for more than five years, the Madison, Wisconsin, construction worker committed dozens of sexual attacks against children and young women. This ABC News program explains how the man known as the "mall rapist" was finally caught, and how his massive collection of digitized images and video provides chilling...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: In this riveting and painfully honest documentary, poet and performance artist Eric Trules explores his multifaceted relationship with his uncle Harvey, an alcoholic mobster and confessed murderer. The program examines surprising parallels between the two men, revealing how artist and outlaw share a deep-rooted resistance to social and moral conventions-a notion of particular relevance when...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: It's a scenario from science fiction: police, predicting the future, arrest citizens before they commit crimes. But the scenario has real-world parallels in psychology. This film examines the PCL-R, or Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, a classification tool used to profile criminals and predict whether or not they will re-offend. In addition to forensic applications, the film shows how the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: There are two sets of rules at Folsom Maximum Security Prison: the "guard rules" and the "yard rules." For an incoming inmate, negotiating the brutal yet invisible prison culture can be deadly. This program takes viewers inside Folsom to learn how the system works. From the severely regimented rules enforced by prison authorities to the unwritten codes that any inmate who wants to survive must...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Psychological profiles of criminals and foreign adversaries are a regular part of modern law enforcement and intelligence-gathering. At the height of World War II, however, creating a profile of the enemy-detailing as much as possible about his childhood, current state of mind, and potential actions-was a groundbreaking notion. This program recounts the work of Harvard psychoanalyst Dr. Walter...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: What compels a seemingly normal person to disregard a fundamental societal principle and commit murder? In this disturbing program, correspondent Steve Aveson reports on recent scientific research into the behavior of killers. An exclusive interview with serial killer Joel Rifkin, convicted of strangling 17 women, is combined with neurological testing, brain scans, and even information derived...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: On the day Britain experienced its first-ever suicide bombing, many assumed that those responsible for the carnage must have been deranged foreigners-but they were not. What motivated these four seemingly ordinary young British men? This program conducts a chilling psychological autopsy as it pieces together the mental state of the 7/7 bombers during their final journey. The work of Ariel...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: We know evil when we see it-or do we? This program follows three people who confront a particular version of evil every day. Viewers meet Roy Ratcliff, the minister who baptized serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer behind bars and continues the practice with other hardened criminals; Aya Schneerson, a UN aid worker who administers food and medical help in the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: During a 23-day rampage that terrorized thousands, the "D.C. sniper" killed ten people, seriously wounded three, and turned out to be two men: John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo. As the definitive treatment of the story, this program chronicles the nationwide manhunt, providing in-depth biographical and psychological profiles of the men, as well as assessing the social impact of their grim...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: With the help of cutting-edge science, the criminal justice and counterintelligence communities have declared a new war on deception. In this program, recent advances in lie detection technology are put to the test. Viewers will encounter alternatives to polygraph testing currently in development in the U.S. and Australia-such as thermal imaging of facial blood flow and MRI scanning that...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: We do not cure anybody, the director of Atascadero State Hospital's Sexually Violent Predator unit frankly admits. Nevertheless, many in the criminal justice community admire Atascadero's relentless efforts to treat the criminally insane. This MSNBC documentary provides an inside look at the facility, which houses several types of offender-from MDOs, or the mentally disordered, to frighteningly...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Sane or insane? Court verdicts and parole decisions alike often hinge on that single crucial question. This program explores the intricacies of psychiatric evaluation and parole risk assessment with forensic psychologist Jeremy Coid, clinical psychologists, a probation officer, and others. The Yorkshire Ripper serial murders, the London Nail Bomber case, the Ipswich Rapist case, the 1999 attack...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005