True Crime In Conversation 2019

Featuring a panel of US and UK law enforcement and criminal psychology specialists, this event offers viewers the opportunity to gain an expert insight in to the criminal psyche – whilst the panel discuss their experiences of serial crime cases in a Q&A style with the audience.

Amongst the expert panel is John Douglas, former FBI serial killer profiler and writer of Mindhunter Keynote Session, which has since been made into a Netflix documentary directed by David Fincher and starring Jonathan Groff. Rising to prominence in the 1970s as chief of the FBI’s Behavioural Analysis Unit, investigating uncomfortable cases from cult leader Charles Manson, to the “son of Sam” serial killer David Berkowitz, it was Douglas who drew attention to the importance of psychological profiling in pursuit of a conviction; he is often credited with coining the term “serial killer” itself.

Also, on the panel is Robert Kolker, writer and New York Times bestselling author of Lost Girls – an in-depth look at the Long island Serial Killer. Lost Girls – An Unsolved American Mystery which was named one of the New York Times' 100 Notable Books and one of Publisher's Weekly's Top Ten Books of 2013, delivers a haunting and humanizing account of the true-life search for a serial killer still at large on Long Island, in a compelling tale of unsolved murder and Internet prostitution.

In conversation with Kolker and providing a UK perspective, is Senior Investigation Officer Colin Sutton, the man who led the investigation in to one of Britain’s biggest serial killer cases; Levi Bellfield. Assigned to the case by the met, Sutton was able to draw links between separate incidents, collating small pieces of circumstantial evidence over painstaking hours of “old-fashioned detective work” which eventually lead to a conviction.

Laura Nirider, Steven Drizin, Jerry Buting and Dean Strang, lawyers from the Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey cases documented in the Netflix series Making a Murderer, will be discussing how the case has changed the perception of the criminal justice system. Professor David Wilson – Presenter, Criminologist and Author of My Life with Murderers – will serve as moderator for the evening.