In the late 1970s, a charismatic cult leader, Jim Jones, promised his followers that they would create a utopian community based on Christian values and racial equality. In the jungle in Guyana, South America, Jones started the project and named it after himself: Jonestown. On this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss why so many people joined and later stayed in Peoples Temple. Once isolated in the jungle, it became hard for the inhabitants to escape and Jim Jones' abuse...
Oct 14, 2021•37 min
Matt Falder is the UK’s worst “sextorter”. A convicted serial sex offender, he used online accounts to blackmail over 40 victims into sending him naked photos, perform sexual acts and even getting one person commit rape. He was also at the time, a Cambridge University student and one of the Bad People team shares their story of coming face to face with him. Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss how the online world has created a new type of crime that targets and exploits young people in the mos...
Oct 07, 2021•28 min
In 1983 Diane Downs carries her three small children into a hospital in Oregon, all suffering from gunshot wounds. The mother explains that she had been the victim of an attempted carjacking, but managed to trick her attacker and escape. However, not long after, the police’s attention turns towards her as a potential suspect. What could lead a mother to harm her own children? In this episode of Bad People, presenters Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss the topic of familicide and Julia shares ...
Sep 30, 2021•25 min
Comedian Sofie Hagen takes us back to her childhood where she unexpectedly received a laptop and free holiday from the municipality. The former tax minister, Peter Brixtofte, was the mayor of Sofie’s town and his “generosity” meant that the citizens loved him. But soon people started to ask: where does the money come from for all these gifts? And why are Peter Brixtofte’s restaurant receipts so enormous? And why are big companies suddenly donating huge sums to the small local football club? On t...
Sep 23, 2021•35 min
Peter Sutcliffe, better known as the Yorkshire Ripper murdered 13 women and attacked many others. The case involved 5 million hours of mostly futile police work and sparked angst and fury among women. Could he have been stopped sooner? On this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen explore how the police were sidetracked in their investigation by confirmation bias and sexism and how women responded with “Reclaim the Night” marches across the country. Warning: This episode includes ...
Sep 16, 2021•35 min
Con-artists. Corruption. Cult leaders. Murders. Rapists. Extortionists. Dr Julia Shaw and comedian Sofie Hagen are back soon with stories of the worst among us and the research that can help us understand how and why someone might turn bad. CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Louisa Field Assistant Producer: Simona Rata Music: Matt Chandler Editor: Rami Tzabar The Open University: Dr Lara Frumkin and Dr James Munro #BadPeople_BBC Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Com...
Sep 09, 2021•3 min
25 years ago, a man walked into Dunblane Primary School and opened fire on a gymnasium full of school children. The horror of this event led to a change in gun legislation - did it work? The US has more school shootings than any other country in the world, should the US adopt the UK’s gun legislation? On this episode of Bad People, Dr. Julia Shaw and comedian Sofie Hagen discuss who is to blame for school shootings and what can be done to prevent them. This episode includes audio from the docume...
Jul 29, 2021•37 min
We continue the story of the notorious Nazi officer and organiser of the Holocaust, Adolf Eichmann, as he goes on trial in Israel. Political theorist Hannah Arendt covers the case, and like so many others, expects to see a monster in a glass cage. Instead she arrives at the chilling conclusion that Eichmann is not a criminal mastermind nor a “monster”, but a dim-witted bureaucrat. Her description upset many people, because how can something so terrible as the holocaust happen? Surely the devil h...
Jul 22, 2021•35 min
Our story starts in Argentina in 1960. A middle-age man is on his way home. As he gets off the bus, hooded men grab him and shuffle him into a van. The man is Adolf Eichmann and the hooded men are Israeli intelligence officers. They smuggle him to Israel to stand trial for his role in the Holocaust. As a prominent Nazi in Hitler’s Third Reich, Eichmann organised the deportations of millions of Jewish people to death camps. He gets the chilling nickname “The Architect of the Holocaust”. The trial...
Jul 15, 2021•36 min
Back in 2016 the pizza restaurant owner James Alefantis began to receive a large number of abusive messages on social media. Confused and afraid, he goes online and to his horror discovers dozens of bogus articles describing how the basement of his pizza joint is being used to traffic and molest children. The architect of this so-called “child sex ring”, the fake articles conclude, is presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her inner circle. Later that year, Edgar Welch burts into the restaur...
Jul 08, 2021•44 min
A group of American soldiers sought out and murdered three civilians in Afghanistan. How did this happen? Was it the work of a rogue platoon or is it part of a larger issue? On this episode of Bad People, Dr. Julia Shaw and comedian Sofie Hagen discuss how soldiers are trained to kill and what counts as murder at war. How do we distinguish between a successful battlefield kill and an unlawful murder? This episode includes audio from a documentary made by F/8 filmworks, and directed by Dan Krauss...
Jul 01, 2021•35 min
This episode of Bad People features the writer of the new BBC One hit drama, Time, Jimmy McGovern. There will be spoilers. Mark Cobden is drunk. Again. But this time he gets into his car and drives off. Moments later he hits and kills a cyclist. Criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw, comedian Sofie Hagen and the Bafta and Emmy-winning writer Jimmy McGovern discuss what makes dangerous driving a relatable crime. Mark did not mean to hurt anyone, so does he belong in prison? And if so, what sort of ...
Jun 20, 2021•45 min
This is part two of the shocking story of abuse and torture which marked the small German town of Höxter. Angelika was called the ‘torture witch’, a psychopath, and a sadist.The truth about Angelika is more interesting. Her relationship with Wilfried took her down a dark path that made her testimony in court so hard to listen to that the judge called a break so everyone could get some air. But it’s not just the details that shocked people, her ice cold presentation was seen by many as proof that...
Jun 17, 2021•42 min
In the middle of a snowstorm in April 2016 a car broke down on the outskirts of a sleepy German town. Angelika, a middle-aged woman, stepped out and knocked on a neighbour’s door asking for help. Wilfried, her partner, stayed behind. But, why did the woman in the back of their car have so many injuries? What had happened to her? In this episode of Bad People, presenters Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss a famous German case of abuse and torture which shocked the country. They talk about the ...
Jun 10, 2021•36 min
In the 1930s in Tuskegee, Alabama, hundreds of men signed up to a medical study which offered free transportation to and from hospitals, free hot lunches and free medicine for most diseases. But the men were not informed of their diagnosis or treated for the disease that was killing them - syphilis. This study went on for 40 years and 128 men died from syphilis and related conditions. On this episode of Bad People, Dr. Julia Shaw and comedian Sofie Hagen discuss whether or not the Tuskegee syphi...
Jun 03, 2021•36 min
In 1997 Lyle May murdered a young mother and her son, allegedly after being annoyed by them at a dinner party. He was later convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and is now on North Carolina’s Death Row. Should he be allowed to get a prison education? In this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss the link between prison education and violence and overcoming the self-stigmatisation of inmates. They also speak with Stephen Akpabio-Klementowski, who went to prison in...
May 27, 2021•36 min
American film producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for two separate cases of sexual assault. Women have made allegations of Weinstein committing sexual assault over decades. Are people who witnessed his crimes but didn’t speak up partly to blame for his long history of misconduct? And, what is it about some workplaces that make them particularly likely to lead to people not speaking up when things go wrong? On this episode of Bad People, Dr. Julia Shaw and comedian ...
May 20, 2021•40 min
Children are playing on the grounds of a former Irish Mother and Baby Home in Tuam when they find 20 tiny skeletons under a concrete slab. Stories follow that shock the world, of over 800 babies found in a septic tank. But who is to blame? Years later, an investigation into the Bon Secours Home establishes that 978 babies and children died on the grounds while it was run by Catholic nuns. The 2021 report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes draws attention to the horrifi...
May 13, 2021•41 min
William Melchert-Dinkle posed as a female nurse online and encouraged people with suicidal thoughts to hang themselves. He even watched some of them carry it out via webcam. He was convicted of assisting suicide and given a prison sentence. But, this is an unusual case. Does criminalising assisted dying protect vulnerable people or take the power away from people to choose when and how they die? Geoff Whaley suffered from motor neurone disease and campaigned for assisted suicide to be legalised ...
May 06, 2021•45 min
On the 19th February 2008, nine-year-old Shannon Matthews went missing in Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. She had just been dropped off by a coach at her school which was just half a mile from her home. Shannon’s best friend said her brother was supposed to be collecting her but he never turned up. Shannon’s mum Karen reported her missing later that evening. The Police moved quickly for fear that she had been abducted. Emotional TV appeals by her mother, Karen, soon followed. At one stage, up to 250...
Apr 29, 2021•28 min
On the 22nd of April 1972, the police in the southeast London borough of Lewisham were alerted to a house fire on Doggett Road. On the second floor of the building, they discovered the body of 26-year-old Maxwell Confait. Three boys later confessed to the murder. In this episode of Bad People, Dr. Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen examine what went wrong in the police interviewing process, the major legal reforms that followed and their implications for police practices in the UK today. We also hear fr...
Apr 22, 2021•38 min
The former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was implicated in the killing of between 50,000 and 100,000 people. In 2006, he was sentenced to death by hanging for committing crimes against humanity. But do his crimes justify his death? Should we be writing him off as evil or is it worth trying to empathise with him? And does revenge actually make us feel good in the long run? Warning: This episode contains strong language and descriptions of violence Presenters: Dr. Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen P...
Apr 15, 2021•32 min
Popstar Nadja Benaissa was convicted of recklessly transmitting HIV. She was blackmailed and attacked by the press. Did she deserve the hatred she received? On this episode of Bad People, presenters Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss whether knowingly spreading an infectious disease should be criminalised and what that means for COVID-19 rule breakers. Is consenting to getting HIV legally possible? What are the ethical problems raised by putting someone with HIV or AIDS in prison? And why are...
Apr 08, 2021•37 min
Murderers. Dictators. Sex offenders. Why do people do bad things? Bad People is back for another series. Archive credits: This episode contains audio from House of Saddam, a BBC Television and HBO Films production, and Shannon: The Mother of All Lies, a BBC Panorama production. Presenters: Dr. Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producers: Louisa Field & Caroline Steel Assistant Producer: Simona Rata Music: Matt Chandler Series Editor: Rami Tzabar Academic Consultants for Open University: Dr. Zoe Wal...
Apr 01, 2021•4 min
Charles Sobhraj is a convicted killer and the inspiration for the new BBC One drama, The Serpent. Julia and Sofie speak with producer Paul Testar about the unlikely history of Interpol, missing persons, and Sobhraj’s many escapes. We also hear audio clips from Herman Knippenberg, who played a crucial role in Sobhraj’s capture. Find out how he once tunnelled a hole through the ceiling of a jewellery shop, faked the symptoms of appendicitis, and threw a birthday party for the Tihar Jail’s prison g...
Feb 14, 2021•42 min
Charles Sobhraj is a convicted killer and the inspiration for the new BBC One drama, The Serpent. Julia and Sofie speak with Julie Clark, journalist and author of On the Trail of the Serpent: The Life and Crimes of Charles Sobhraj. Julie and her late husband Richard Neville met Sobhraj. What is he really like? And we hear from Sobhraj himself as Julie shares a secret recording from his cell. Spending so much time with Sobhraj landed Julie and Richard in a tricky situation, Sobhraj told them he h...
Jan 23, 2021•41 min
What happens when a man serving multiple life sentences keeps killing in prison? In July 1996, while in solitary confinement, Craig Bjork wrote to the warden of Stillwater prison in Minnesota threatening to commit mass murder against his fellow inmates. One year later he kills his first victim. Bjork who was already serving three consecutive life terms for killing his entire family reportedly asked ‘what can they do? Give me more time?’ On this episode of Bad People presenters Julia Shaw and Sof...
Jan 14, 2021•29 min
Early one morning in July 2019, Brandon Clark used his online platform to share graphic photos with his followers, including a photo that appeared to show a woman’s bloodied torso, captioned “I’m sorry Bianca”. Not long after this, police found Brandon lying on top of a green tarp. He had spray-painted the words “May you never forget me” on the ground. He had killed 17-year-old ‘micro-influencer’ Bianca Devins. Why did he choose to broadcast her murder? Sofie Hagen and Dr Julia Shaw discuss ‘e-g...
Jan 07, 2021•30 min
Charles Sobhraj is a convicted killer and the inspiration for the new BBC One drama, The Serpent. Julia and Sofie speak with producer Paul Testar to learn what it was about Sobhraj that inspired this show. Was it the nature of his crimes? His charm? Or something else? Julia and Sofie discuss Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how this famous construct was partly inspired by hippie culture. Perhaps Maslow can help us better understand how Sobhraj appealed to so many people travelling abroad? Warning...
Jan 01, 2021•35 min
When far-right terrorist Anders Breivik murdered 77 people, many of whom were children, court-appointed psychiatrists declared him insane. Many Norwegian members of the public were angry that a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder would mean he would not be held accountable for his crimes and might even be freed early. He told doctors that he was the leader of a military group at war with Norway, committed to racist, anti-Muslim ideas. Breivik himself rejected the "insanity defence", insistent that...
Dec 31, 2020•36 min
