Introduction

Gregg O. McCrary
(McCrary)

Gregg McCrary is one of the world's most experienced profilers. In 1969, he became a Special Agent with the FBI just as the profiling pioneers at Quantico were beginning to shape the Behavioral Science Unit (BSU). With a background in criminal justice and psychology, he conducted research on violent offenders, and after the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) was formed in 1985, his duties ranged from analyzing crime scenes and offender "signatures" to constructing behavioral profiles and teaching the complexities of threat assessment.

Throughout his 25 years with the FBI, McCrary consulted on thousands of domestic and international cases that involved homicide or sexual assault. With other experts, he assisted in the development of the Crime Classification Manual, a system for standardizing violent crimes, and in 1993, he was the principal instructor of the First International Symposium on Criminal Investigative Analysis in Vienna, Austria, which he also chaired.

Two years later, Gregg McCrary retired from the FBI but continues his work by consulting and providing expert testimony in cases in which crime scene analysis is key. He also offers commentary on violence for television documentaries and gives seminars to professional organizations. With the Threat Assessment Group, Inc. (TAG) he advises corporations about workplace safety and assists with school violence programs.

As an international expert on violence, McCrary's insights are derived from many years of experience, and he agreed to share some of those insights in the following interview.