Richard Walter (psychologist)

Richard Walter is an American forensic psychologist for the Michigan prison system, a crime scene analyst and one of the creators of modern criminal profiling.

Walter developed a number of psychological classifications for violent crime, and is a co-founder of the Vidocq Society, an exclusive organization of forensic professionals dedicated to solving cold cases. As a psychologist for Michigan's prison system, he has interviewed more than 22,000 convicted felons.

He worked with Robert D. Keppel, then the chief investigator for the Attorney General's Office in the State of Washington, and together they wrote Profiling Killers: A Revised Classification Model for Understanding Sexual Murder. Keppel created the Homicide Information Tracking Unit (HITS) database, of which Walter was a prolific contributor. Walter was the first to develop a matrix as a tool of investigation using pre-crime, crime and post-crime behaviours to help develop suspects.

The Vidocq Society and its three co-founders, including Walter, were the subject of a 2010 book by Michael Capuzzo. The book is titled The Murder Room: The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases. Walter is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine/Clinical Forensic Medicine, A Fellow of the Australasian College of Biomedical Sciences and a 22-year veteran prison psychologist for the state of Michigan.

Walter gives lectures to police organizations throughout the United States, England, Scotland, Turkey, Australia and Hong Kong. He has also been featured on programs for CBS, A&E, TLC and Court TV.

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