Understanding, Profiling, and Commodifying Serial Killers

From Jack the Ripper to present day cases, what makes a serial killer? Can forensic profiles, new research, and big data really help authorities understand how and why they strike. To discuss, The Agenda welcomes Jim Clemente, writer and co-producer of the television series, "Criminal Minds," Tim Clemente, a retired FBI special agent and counter-terrorism specialist, and Michael Arntfield, a Western University criminology professor. Then, much of what most people know about murderers and other violent criminals comes from movies and television. Anne Wolbert Burgess is such a pioneer of profiling serial killers and rapists, that Netflix's popular crime drama, "Mindhunter," is based on her ground-breaking work. Burgess, a professor of Forensic Nursing at Boston College, joins The Agenda to discuss how she and her team developed their methods. Finally, Jason. Hannibal Lecter. Dexter. The list of serial killers in movies and on television is long. Why, with all their brutal and gruesome deeds, do these really bad characters crop up so often in popular culture? To discuss the public's fascination with serial killers, The Agenda welcomes Jim Clemente, a former FBI profiler, and writer and co-producer of the television series, "Criminal Minds," and Father Raymond de Souza, chaplain at Queen's University, and editor of Convivium Magazine.