Patrick Joseph Mullany (March 18, 1935 – September 7, 2016) was an American Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent and instructor at the FBI Academy.
[1] On top of the work done for the Behavioral Science Unit, he also co-initiated two other major police programs, the Hostage Negotiations and Criminal Psychological Profiling.
[2] In the early to late 1970s, Mullany and Teten spearheaded the behavioral science unit in Quantico, Virginia, using criminal psychology to create profiling techniques still used by the FBI today.
[1] Teten, being a criminologist, would present the facts of the case, and Mullany, having a master's degree in psychology, would connect the serial killer's personality to certain aspects of the crime scene.
[4] Some noted limitations of non-scientific methods are the agents reliance on their personal intuition and professional knowledge and lack of clear, organized procedures.
[5] While studies have been conducted on the use of criminal profiling and its effectiveness, there is insufficient empirical evidence to either confirm or deny the validity of the techniques and methodology created by Mullany and Teten.