A "wound collector" is a pathology referring to criminals who use slights, grievances, and wrongdoings as a justification for their violence. This term is normally used to refer to people motivated by a terrorist ideology. But it is also easily applicable to any kind of criminal depending on the motive, and even a nation or state. Normal, law-abiding people can also fall under the category if they habitually bring up grievances.
Definition[]
In Psychology Today, author, public speaker, and ex-FBI agent Joe Navarro defined the term "wound collector" as:
- "[I]ndividuals, both in terrorism matters and elsewhere who, because of personality traits: collect social slights, historical grievances, or wrongs for reasons that personally benefit them or their belief system. The collection of these grievances goes beyond what one normally experiences in life; after all, we have all had slights and we have all been unfairly treated at some point. These individuals use these wrongs, slights, or wounds, to then justify their beliefs or behaviors, or to help them deal with their own psychological or social distress."
On Criminal Minds[]
- Edward Hill ("Poison") used the mistakes made by his former workplace, Hitchcock Pharmaceuticals, as justification for his series of poisonings aimed at random civilians.
- Sarah Danlin ("Jones") used her rape, and how her rapists managed to get away with the crime, as a justification for her killings.
- Kaman Scott ("Devil's Night") used the various wrongdoings done onto him by his victims as a justification for killing them.
- Ben Bradstone ("Proof") used his constant romantic rejections by his sister-in-law, Lyla Smith, as well as his discovery about how she felt about kissing him when they were in their teens, as a justification for his killings.
- John Curtis ("The Silencer", "The Apprenticeship", "Magnificent Light", "Zugzwang", "Broken", "Carbon Copy", "Brothers Hotchner", and "The Replicator") used his demotion in the FBI, and the subsequent downfall of his career, as a justification for taunting the BAU and committing his murders.
- Donnie Bidwell ("Carbon Copy") used his wrongful arrest by the BAU and the divorce of his wife as a justification for his killings.
- Wayne Gulino ("The Return") used his termination from the Chicago Police Department as a justification for his proxy killings.
- Charles Johnson ("Strange Fruit) used his abduction and his castration as a justification for his killings.
- Sue Walsh ("Gabby") used her molestations at the hands of her uncle and how her cousin was never molested by him as a justification for having said cousin's daughter abducted.
- James Burke ("Hero Worship") used his termination from the Indianapolis school board as a justification for his bombings and arson.
- In the Season Nine episode Angels, the BAU profiled a ring of corrupt Sheriff's Deputies (who they believed to be a loner unsub at the time) as a "wound collector" who was motivated by a hatred of prostitutes. This aspect of the profile was later disproved when the Deputies' true motives were uncovered.
- Peter Lewis ("Mr. Scratch", "The Crimson King", "Mirror Image", "Red Light" and "Wheels Up") used his father's wrongful incarceration and subsequent murder in prison as a justification for his initial proxy killings.
- Desi Gutierrez ("Dust and Bones") used her childhood abuse at the hands of her mother as justification for her abduction and torture of several women.
- Mark Henshaw ("All You Can Eat") used the percieved bertrayl by the former customers of his parents restaurant as a justification for his killings.
- Louis Chaycon ("Ghost") used his incarceration and the death of his brother as a justification for copying the M.O. of Phillip Dowd and abducting Simmons and Alvez.
- In Season Eleven, SSA Aaron Hotchner was suspected of being a wound collector, when he allegedly makes a vaguely threatening call to 911. The FBI concludes from his recent behavior and a testimony from Peter Lewis that he had grown angry with his colleagues and had been planning to kill them, using his very own profile for a Workplace Shooter. In reality, Eric Rawdon had Asher Douglas splice together words from his press conferences to make the call as a setup for a prison break, and Peter Lewis planned this as a test run for other prison breaks.