The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is a department of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime The National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) is a specialist FBI department. The NCAVC's role is to coordinate investigative and operational support functions, criminological research, and training in order to provide assistan ...

(NCAVC) that uses behavioral analysts to assist in criminal investigations. The mission of the NCAVC and the BAU is to provide behavioral based investigative and/or operational support by applying case experience, research, and training to complex and time-sensitive

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

s, typically involving acts or threats of

violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...

History and structure

The Behavioral Analysis Unit was originally called the

Behavioral Science Unit The Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) is the original name of a unit within the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Training Division at Quantico, Virginia, formed in response to the rise of sexual assault and homicide in the 1970s. The unit was ...

. The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) was created in 1985 as part of the

(NCAVC), itself established in 1985. The IOSS (Investigations & Operations Support Section) is a branch of the FBI's overall CIRG Critical Incident Response Group. IOSS provides personnel and training to assist in investigations throughout the country, and at US embassies worldwide. IOSS supports other CIRG groups within the FBI, FBI Headquarters and Field Offices, FBI legal attaches (at embassies abroad), and all US law enforcement agencies. IOSS is divided into two main sections: the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) and the Operations Support Branch (OSB). The NCAVC consists of five Behavioral Analysis Units, or "BAU"s: * Behavioral Analysis Unit 1 (counterterrorism, arson and bombing matters) * Behavioral Analysis Unit 2 (threats, cyber crime, and public corruption) * Behavioral Analysis Unit 3 (crimes against children) * Behavioral Analysis Unit 4 (crimes against adults, ViCAP) * Behavioral Analysis Unit 5 (research, strategy, and instruction) The headquarters for the BAU is located in

Quantico, Virginia Quantico ( or ; formerly Potomac) is a town in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 480 at the 2010 census. Quantico is approximately 35 miles southwest of Washington, DC, bordered by the Potomac River to the east ...

. The NCAVC also includes the ViCAP. ViCAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) is a database available as a tool to all law enforcement agencies nationwide. It compiles facts, statistics, and particular details regarding violent offenses (including rape, assault, and murder), and maintains them in an online database for the purpose of linking a known offender or known offense to previous crimes, victims, or offenders. It is a pattern database, allowing users to see patterns in M.O.,

signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a ...

, or

victimology Victimology is the study of victimization, including the psychological effects on victims, the relationship between victims and offenders, the interactions between victims and the criminal justice system—that is, the police and courts, and c ...

, helping to tie crimes to offenders and offenders to crimes for the purpose of solving cases involving violence. The Operations Support Branch (OSB) contains three main units: * Crisis Management Unit * Special Events Management Unit * Rapid Deployment & Technology Unit

Operation

The BAU receives requests for services from federal, state, local, and international

law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws. Jurisdiction LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction. LEA ...

. Responses to these requests for BAU assistance are facilitated through the network of field NCAVC coordinators. BAU services can consist of on-site case consultations, telephone

conference call A conference call is a telephone call in which someone talks to several people at the same time. The conference call may be designed to allow the called party to participate during the call or set up so that the called party merely listens into ...

s, and/or consultations held at the BAU with case investigators. BAU assistance to law enforcement agencies is provided through the process of "criminal investigative analysis." Criminal investigative analysis is a process of reviewing crimes from both a behavioral and investigative perspective. It involves reviewing and assessing the facts of a criminal act, interpreting offender behavior, and interaction with the victim, as exhibited during the commission of the crime, or as displayed in the

crime scene A crime scene is any location that may be associated with a committed crime. Crime scenes contain physical evidence that is pertinent to a criminal investigation. This evidence is collected by crime scene investigators (CSI) and law enforcemen ...

. BAU staff conduct detailed analyses of crimes for the purpose of providing two or more of the following services:

crime analysis Crime analysis is a law enforcement function that involves systematic analysis for identifying and analyzing patterns and trends in crime and disorder. Information on patterns can help law enforcement agencies deploy resources in a more effective ...

, investigative suggestions, profiles of unknown offenders, threat analysis, critical incident analysis, interview strategies, major case management,

search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, ...

assistance, prosecution and trial strategies, and

expert testimony An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...

. In addition to the above services, the BAU staff produced the ''Child Abduction Response Plan'' to assist investigators faced with these investigations. Recently, the BAU released "The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective" report to guide school administrators,

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

parent A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male t ...

s, and law enforcement in identifying and evaluating threats in schools. The BAU maintains a reference file for experts in various forensic disciplines such as odontology,

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

psychiatry Psychiatry is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psych ...

, entomology, or

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

References in popular culture

The BAU was brought into mainstream culture by television shows such as ''

Criminal Minds ''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created and produced by Jeff Davis. The series premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005, and originally concluded on February 19, 2020; it was revived in 2022. It ...

'', which depict an elite group of "FBI agent profilers" who travel the country assisting local law enforcement on diverse cases. The CBS weekly drama series ''

'' and its spinoff, '' Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior'' both feature the BAU.

Thomas Harris William Thomas Harris III (born 1940/1941) is an American writer, best known for a series of suspense novels about his most famous character, Hannibal Lecter. The majority of his works have been adapted into films and television, the most notab ...

Hannibal Lecter Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a Character (arts), fictional character created by the novelist Thomas Harris. Lecter is a serial killer who Human cannibalism, eats his victims. Before his capture, he was a respected Forensic psychiatry, forensic psychi ...

novels and the corresponding films ('' Manhunter'', '' The Silence of the Lambs'', '' Hannibal'', and '' Red Dragon'') featured the

(BSU), which later created and developed what eventually became known as the BAU. It is also seen in the NBC television show based on the novels, '' Hannibal'', and the CBS television show '' Clarice''. The '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' episode "

Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a ...

" (

season 9 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

, no. 12, January 8, 2008) heavily features a member of the BAU. Additionally, in season 5 of the HBO show ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...

'', two detectives visit the BAU team in Quantico for a profile of the "fake" serial killer they are investigating. In October 2017, the Netflix show '' Mindhunter'' was released, which details the experiences of two BSU team detectives interviewing inmates with psychological disorders. In August 2017, the Discovery Channel series '' Manhunt: Unabomber'', based on true events, was released. It featured a member of the BAU who helped catch

Ted Kaczynski Theodore John Kaczynski ( ; born May 22, 1942), also known as the Unabomber (), is an American domestic terrorist and former mathematics professor. Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski killed three people and injured 23 others in a nationwide ...

, also known as the Unabomber, through the use of

forensic profiling Forensic profiling is the study of trace evidence in order to develop information which can be used by police authorities. This information can be used to identify suspects and convict them in a court of law. The term "forensic" in this context ...

Criticism

In order to generate profiles of offenders, members of the BAU use a concept known as psychological profiling. Belief in psychological profiling has often been supported by anecdotal evidence describing BAU profiles as a necessary key to solving a crime. A homeless man in North Carolina, for example, was apprehended after a BAU profile was issued for a case that the local police force had not been able to solve. Although anecdotal evidence such as this abounds in popular media, the concept of psychological profiling has not been empirically proven. In a number of studies, professional criminal profilers have been compared to other groups such as students, police officers, and clinical psychologists. In order to evaluate these groups, each participant was presented with the details of a previously solved crime. The profile written by the participant was then compared to a profile of the guilty party. In no study did the group of profilers outperform the other groups, and in some studies, they were clearly outperformed by both police officers and chemistry students. Despite these findings, members of the BAU continue to use psychological profiling. Public confidence in psychological profiling is also high and has been greatly promoted by TV shows such as ''

''. Some

forensic psychologists Forensic psychology is the development and application of scientific knowledge and methods to help answer legal questions arising in criminal, civil, contractual, or other judicial proceedings. Forensic psychology includes both research on various ...

, such as Robert Homant, have also dismissed the previously mentioned studies by stating that they lack external validity as they do not accurately represent the situations in which members of the BAU work.

References

External links

Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG)
��Includes the BAU
Behavioral Analysis Unit profile
(archived version) {{FBI