Have you ever wondered about why people kill? Is it at random? Planned out? What are their motivations? Did they want revenge? Control? 

My name is Annika Brashares, and I am an eleventh grader at The Calhoun School in New York City. I have grown up fascinated by true crime, and have always wondered about those questions.

It is difficult to see how someone could do something that feels so wrong: we, as humans, are social and empathetic, so it is hard to understand the mindset of someone that is unlike yours. The study of homicide and why people kill has inspired countless TV shows, movies, and books, with many of them being heavily based on the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Units. The FBI Behavioral Analysis Units work on cases all over the United States to analyze criminal behavior, and part of their job is to answer one of the most important questions of all: what is the psychology behind why someone takes someone else’s life? This site is for high school students interested in possibly pursuing a career in law enforcement or even the FBI in the future to learn more about criminal psychology in order to prepare.