After six years of inactivity, the Unabomber is back. The FBI reinvigorate the investigation and the chase begins once more.

In this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and comedian Sofie Hagen discuss Kaczynski’s childhood, dubious psychological testing at Harvard University and challenge the media narrative that he was some sort of ‘criminal mastermind’. In court, Kaczynski’s lawyers wanted to plead insanity, but that proved difficult.

Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and terrorism.

CREDITS

From 1978 to 1995, Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, built and mailed a series of homemade bombs, killing three people and injuring many more.

Kaczynski lived alone in a cabin in the woods, in Lincoln, Montana and documented his ‘failures’ and ‘successes’ in code, in a personal journal. His targets were university professors, technocrats and anyone seen to further, as he saw it, technological development.

In this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and comedian Sofie Hagen unpick what motivated Kaczynski’s violent behaviour. It turns out that Kaczynski was inspired by French anarchist philosopher, Jacques Ellul, fears about technology. Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen reflect on their own “technophobia” and how it affects their lives.

Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and terrorism.

CREDITS

Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.

On the 20th of April 1934, eight-year-old Helen was sent to buy bread for her mother. She reached the bakery around 1.30 in the afternoon, spent exactly 4 dimes and was seen returning home by a few neighbors. But she never made it all the way and later that day her parents, friends and the police began a search that lasted through the night.

What do Aberdeen, a half-loaf of bread, and the history of forensic science have in common? In this episode of Bad People, recorded live at the festival Granite Noir, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss the impact of bias on forensics, the use of bacteria in analysing crime scenes and the way in which fingerprints are actually compared – hint, it’s not like the movies.

Warning: This episode contains strong language, descriptions of violence, child abuse and sexual violence.

CREDITS

Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.

In 1998 Matthew Shepard, becomes the victim of radical homophobia in Wyoming. Two suspects, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson are almost immediately taken into custody and charged. The “gay panic” defense is used in court. But, does it work?

Shepard becomes the poster boy for the horrific consequences of anti-gay hate, and his case helps to re-define hate crimes in the US. Celebrities get involved, marches are held, and a decade later, in 2009, the United States Congress passes the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

In this episode Sofie Hagen and Dr Julia Shaw discuss research on the seven shades of homophobia, what defines a hate crime, and explain the flawed logic behind the “gay panic” defense, also called the LGBTQ+ panic defense.

Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and homophobia, including homophobic slurs.

CREDITS

Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.

A Bad People special episode will be available shortly.

Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen speak to Gordon Corera, the Security Consultant on Killing Eve.

They discuss ‘dry cleaning’, secret recording devices and fake identities.

Klenice grew up in a village in rural Western Kenya. When both her parents passed away, she dropped out of school and started working to support herself. The father of her first child also died unexpectedly and by the age of 22 she was a single mother. What drives a mother to sell her own child? And who facilitates such a sale?

In 2019, BBC Africa Eye launched an investigation into Kenya’s black market for babies. Presenter Njeri Mwangi worked on the yearlong undercover operation and joins Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen to discuss the result, the documentary ‘The Baby Stealers’.

The episode contains audio from the documentary by BBC Africa Eye, The Baby Stealers.

CREDITS

The Iceman, Richard Kuklinski, was a notorious contract killer. Over the course of his ‘career’ he, by his own admission, killed over 100 people. Some were contracted murders – hits - others were victims of revenge and a few were just at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Warning: This episode includes graphic descriptions of violence.

All of the audio in this episode comes from two HBO documentaries:

CREDITS

In 1998, Christopher Alder spent the evening at the "student night" of a nightclub in Hull, England. The night escalated dramatically and eventually lead to a national conversation about racism and the police's treatment of Black people. A video released years after Alder's tragic death revealed audible "monkey noises", reviving the discussion about the case and the important issues it raises.

CREDITS

When day-care employee, Kelly Michaels, is accused of playing the piano naked in front of children, she is speechless. The case escalates and soon Kelly Michaels is faced with charges of outlandish crimes. The trial changes her life forever. She spends years in prison before being exonerated.

On this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen are joined by writer Jon Ronson, who interviewed Kelly Michaels for the podcast “Things Fell Apart”. They discuss how her case was part of a the Satanic Panic in the US, a wave of conspiracy theories that told tall tales of child-abusing Satanists.

This episode contain clips from the New York Times and BBC Radio 4, Things Fell Apart.

Warning: This episode includes descriptions of child abuse.

CREDITS

Bad People is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.

Three friends - Babs, Els and Marcel - jump out of a plane together. They are regular sky divers and as they approach the ground they activate their parachutes. Els' parachute fails, as does her reserve parachute. She falls the remaining 1000m to her death. Was it a tragic accident or was it murder?

In this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen debate their differing views on monogamy. They discuss the psychology of jealousy: what makes someone jealous and does it serve any purpose?

This episode contains audio from AP archive.

Warning: This episode includes mention of suicide and some swearing.

CREDITS

Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC