This show is what peaked my interest in sociology, more so social psychology, than anything else, truthfully. I had no idea what sociology even was before agent Ford’s girlfriend mentioned that she was studying sociology with a specialization in deviance and criminology. Mindhunter is an exciting show on Netflix following the way the FBI formed the Behavioral Science department in the 1970s. It is based on real stories, including interviews with Ed Kemper, Dennis Rader, and Jerry Brudos. The agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench, based on John E. Douglas and Robert K. Ressler, travel across the country interviewing serial killers, before the term “serial killer” had even been coined. The show is not so much about catching these serial killers, but more about how Douglas and Ressler pushed the FBI to utilize social psychology to better profile these types of people in order to be more effective in catching them in the future.

Deviance is a behavior, trait, or belief that departs from a norm and generates a negative reaction in a particular group (Ferris and Stein 153). However, as discussed in class deviance is not always criminal. Although the majority of the examples in the series are of deviance and crimes, because murdering people is not normal nor legal, agent Ford exhibits deviance in his methods of interviewing. This can be specifically seen in his engagement with Gene Devier: agent Ford was trying to connect with Devier, a suspect in the rape and murder of a young local girl. Ford showed an unhealthy interest in young girls and quoted a line Ed Kemper had said to him in a previous interview “You got to make it with that young {word that means cat and also vagina} before it turns into mom.” This is extremely unprofessional and unconventional of agent Ford. Defying all of the performance norms of an FBI agent, Ford did not conduct himself in the expected manner by saying these things. However, he succeeded in gaining Devier’s trust. In fact, that very statement made Devier comfortable enough to confess to the crime eventually. This was the perfect example of non-criminal deviance. Literal criminal deviance can be seen in the interviews, as expected, where Ed Kemper admits to enjoying necrophilia, including a time with his mother. Necrophilia, especially incestual necrophilia is taboo, to say the least. To better understand these criminals though, we would need to look at deviance from all three angles: biological, psychological, and sociological.

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