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Sipping Coffee With A Serial Killer: On Conducting Life History Interviews With A Criminal Genius, J.C. Olsen
Sipping Coffee With A Serial Killer: On Conducting Life History Interviews With A Criminal Genius, J.C. Olsen
The Qualitative Report
As part of my Ph.D. research on criminal genius, I conducted 44 semi-structured interviews. One of the 44 subjects, in particular, stood out. This noteworthy individual claimed that he had killed 15 people. His story was particularly interesting because unlike most social research involving serial killers he claimed that he had never been arrested or convicted for his homicides. Compelled by his account, I met with this subject on five additional occasions, and gradually compiled his criminal life history. Ethical and legal considerations limited inquiry into several dimensions of this subjects life history, but over time, an interesting and richly …