Thomas Müller (psychologist)

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Thomas Müller

Thomas Müller (born August 4, 1964 in Innsbruck ) is an Austrian criminal psychologist , case analyst and author .

Career

The basic training for security guards at the Innsbruck Federal Police Department marked Müller's entry into police work in 1982. After his official examination, he served as a uniformed police officer at Innsbruck Central Station for several years . In addition, Müller studied psychology and completed his studies in 1991 as Mag. Phil. at the University of Innsbruck . In 1993 he began to set up the criminal psychology service in the Ministry of the Interior . In 2001 he received his doctorate as Dr. rer. nat. in the field of criminal psychology / forensic psychiatry .

Müller completed special training in the field of criminal justice , criminology and crime analysis. He received teaching assignments and gave lectures at various institutions and universities in German-speaking countries, in other European countries, as well as America , South Africa and Australia .

He gained further qualifications through his contact with the FBI and a teaching period in the United States with specialists in criminal psychology. He was active in the investigation of serial offenders Jack Unterweger in Austria, Horst David and Frank Gust in Germany, Moses Sithole in South Africa, Mischa Ebner in Switzerland and the letter bomber Franz Fuchs in Austria. Above all, the relatively exact profiling of Franz Fuchs (according to Müller's count, 22 of 24 predicted characteristics matched the perpetrator) made him known, although the perpetrator profile did not lead to a successful search and was wrong in key points such as age. Müller explained his wrong age prognosis with the "behavioral age", which can differ from the biological age.

Scientific approach

In his book Bestie Mensch, Thomas Müller describes the method of operational case analysis , with the help of which conclusions can be drawn about a certain perpetrator that remain hidden from criminology. Thomas Müller pursues this scientific approach, initially also in contact with the FBI criminal psychologist Robert Ressler, who has since died . Criminal psychology alone can never solve or solve a crime: it tries to clarify the “why”, not the “how”. She looks for the strengths and weaknesses of the perpetrator and thus works closely with forensic psychiatry, which, in contrast to criminal psychology, deals with the perpetrator as a person.

TV appearances

At the beginning of 2010, Müller was seen in the six-part Sat.1 documentary Judgment Mord - Searching for Traces Behind Bars , where he reconstructed the course of events of six German murders and spoke to the convicted murderers in prison.

Works

  • Beast human. Camouflage - Lies - Strategy , Ecowin , Salzburg 2004
  • Greedy beast. Success - Humiliation - Vengeance , Ecowin, Salzburg 2006

Web links