Magdalena Cruz did not know who her father was. But she knew he was a rapist. An ancestry DNA test led her to her likely family. When she looked at their profiles on social media she came across the photograph of a man with a striking family resemblance.Journalist Amber Haque and criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw delve into the story.Producers: Ciaran Tracey and James Shield Executive Producer: Innes Bowen Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Mix Engineer: John Scott Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins Assistant Commissioners: Izzy Lee-Poulton and Sarah Green

Three boys from the same Sunderland school were found dead within a few months of each other in the early 1990s. Their deaths were initially blamed on sniffing glue to get high. But the boys' families thought they had been murdered. And they were right. Two years later, Steven Grieveson was convicted of serial murder. But the investigation wasn't over.Presenters: Criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw and journalist and true crime documentary maker Amber Haque.Producers: Maggie Latham and Rachel Oakes Executive Producer: Innes Bowen Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Mix Engineer: John Scott Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins Assistant Commissioners: Izzy Lee-Poulton and Sarah Green

"Pretendians" are people who falsely claim a native American or indigenous Canadian identity.In 2024, a 59 year old woman who falsely claimed her daughters were adopted Inuit girls was sentenced to three years in a Canadian prison. Karima Manji lied about her daughters' heritage to claim $150,000 from funds reserved for Inuit people. The judge sentenced her to more than the two years recommended by the prosecution, stating that Manji had "victimized the Inuit of Nunavut by stealing their identity."Should crimes involving cultural appropriation attract a heavier sentence?Hosts: Dr Julia Shaw and Amber Haque.Producer: Shabnam Grewal Assistant Producer: Rachel Oakes Executive Producer: Innes Bowen Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Mix Engineer: John Scott Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins Assistant Commissioners: Izzy Lee-Poulton and Sarah Green

Baby girl Delimar Vera is declared dead in a house fire. Years later, the bereaved mother thinks she recognises her at a party. The girl she thinks is her daughter is called Aaliyah. The woman who has brought her up claims to be Aaliyah’s birth mother.Hosts Amber Haque and Dr Julia Shaw discuss the truth about Delimar Vera’s real fate – and how the research on phantom pregnancy and child abduction help us understand what happened and why.Producers: Maggie Latham and Rachel Oakes Executive Producer: Innes Bowen Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Mix Engineer: John Scott Recording Studio: 88Hertz Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins Assistant Commissioners: Izzy Lee-Poulton and Sarah Green

A law abiding businessman turns criminal after medical treatment. Are hormones to blame?Richard Davis was a 42 year old asexual with a highly successful business and no criminal record. Then he experienced a sudden change of personality. He became sex-obsessed - buying pornography and hiring escorts. Within two years of this personality change, he had convictions for assault and dishonesty and was banned from being a company director.Journalist Amber Haque digs into the newspaper and court archives to tell this extraordinary story. Criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw explains why, in this case, the defence "My hormones made me do it," might be more than a lame excuse.Producer: Maggie Latham with help from Shabnam Grewal and James Shield Researcher: Rhiannon Cobb Executive Producer: Innes Bowen Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Mix Engineer: John Scott Recording Studio: 88Hertz Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins Assistant Commissioners: Izzy Lee-Poulton and Sarah Green

Presenters Dr Julia Shaw and Amber Haque meet the world's most famous victim of romance fraud: Cecilie Fjellhoy. After exposing the so-called Tindler Swindler in a Netflix hit, Cecilie confronted him in person and set up a campaign to help other victims.Cecilie's life changed radically after she swiped right on the Tinder profile of Simon Leviev.He took her on a private jet on their first date, told her he was the son of a billionaire diamond dealer and seemed to live a jet set life. But though he dressed in designer clothes from head to toe, drove expensive cars and had an entourage that included a chauffeur and a bodyguard, the handsome Israeli was actually a convicted fraudster whose real name was Shimon Hayut.Once he knew Cecilie had fallen in love with him, he told her his life was in danger and that he needed to stay alive. He maxed out her credit card immediately and then begged her to get more money. She managed to borrow nearly $200,000 which he promised to pay back but he never did. She ended up bankrupt and depressed while he moved on to defrauding other women.She tells Julia and Amber about life after Netflix - and discusses the psychological tricks that romance fraudsters play.Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Amber Haque Producer: Shabnam Grewal Executive Producer: Innes Bowen Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Researcher: Rhiannon Cobb Mix Engineer: John Scott Recording Studio: 88Hertz Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins Assistant Commissioners: Izzy Lee-Poulton, Adam Eland and Sarah Green

In TV dramas, criminal profilers solve crimes that the police cannot. Presenters Dr Julia Shaw and Amber Haque look at a real life case. An anonymous blackmailer threatens acid attacks unless his demands for pornographic photos of female airline staff at Gatwick are met. The police are stumped. So, they call in a professor of criminal psychology. What he says astounds them. Further information: Julia refers in this episode to the following study: Analysing criminal profiling validity: Underlying problems and future directions. Rita Alexandra Brilha Ribeiro, Cristina Branca Bento de Matos Soeiro. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry Volume 74, January–February 2021, 101670 Cracker is a 1990s ITV drama series about a fictional criminal profiler. The series was produced by Granada Television, written by Jimmy McGovern and starred Robbie Coltraine. In August 2024, the series was available on ITVX. Jimmy McGovern appears in this June 2021 episode of Bad People, talking about another one of his crime dramas: Time. The Real Cracker was a documentary series produced by Oxford Films. It was inspired by the TV drama Cracker. A book based on the series was published in 2002 by Channel 4 Books: The Real Cracker: Investigating the Criminal Mind by Stephen Cook. Producer: Innes Bowen Editor: Philip Sellars Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Researcher: Rhiannon Cobb Mix Engineer: John Scott Recording Studio: 88Hertz Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins Assistant Commissioners: Adam Eland and Sarah Green

Bad People is back!Criminal psychologist, Dr Julia Shaw, is joined by a new co-host: journalist and documentary maker Amber Haque.The new season starts with a true crime story that went viral during lockdown.Penny Jackson looked as if she was living the middle class retirement dream. Holidays and a retirement home by the sea.But cooped up with her husband during lockdown, her anger got out of control. After a petty row about food she stabbed her husband to death. When police arrested for murder, she said, "Oh good." Video footage of her being taken into custody in her M&S pyjamas went viral.Amber looks into the couple's lives for clues about what led to their fatal row. Julia and Amber discuss coercive control, toxic relationships and complex grief.Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Amber Haque Producers: Ciaran Tracey and James Shield Executive Producer: Innes Bowen Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Researcher: Rhiannon Cobb Mix Engineer: John Scott Recording Studio: 88Hertz Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins Assistant Commissioners: Adam Eland, Sarah Green and Izzy Lee-Poulton

Bad People is back! Criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw makes a return to the series with a new co-host: journalist Amber Haque. Each episode tells the story of a true crime and explains why people do bad things. Murder, blackmail, fraud and much more.Listen every Thursday. Bad People is a BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Sounds.

It’s the Bad People finale. In this last ever episode, Julia and Sofie dig into the ethics of the media covering criminal cases. After a press “campaign of vilification”, all charges against Christopher Jefferies were dismissed. The tabloids had incorrectly painted him as Joanna Yeates’ killer. Mr Jefferies took the newspapers responsible to court - and won. He then gave evidence during the Leveson Inquiry, the UK’s landmark investigation into wrongdoing and alleged corruption within the media. In this episode of Bad People, criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw and comedian Sofie Hagen discuss why many of us think the media is biased against our own views because of “the hostile media effect”. They talk about the Leveson inquiry and what makes media coverage of crimes bad -- or good. At the end, they summarise what they learned from working on Bad People for the past three and a half years. CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producers: Laura Northedge and Lauren Armstrong-Carter Assistant Producer: Hannah Ward Editors: Anna Lacey and Richard Collings Music: Matt Chandler Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland Production Coordinator: Jonathan Harris#BadPeople_BBC

In December 2010, the UK media became fixated with the disappearance of 25 year-old Joanna Yeates. When her body was discovered, many tabloid newspapers felt certain they knew the identity of her murderer. Christopher Jefferies had been Joanna’s landlord and was considered by some to be “strange”. The claims against Christopher were unfounded. Being hounded by the press left lasting reputational and psychological scars. In this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen ask: is it possible to have a fair trial when the tabloids have decided you are guilty? They explore research on prejudicial pre-trial publicity as well as “media shock” effects after police issue warnings about a killer on the loose. CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producers: Laura Northedge and Lauren Armstrong-Carter Assistant Producer: Hannah Ward Editors: Anna Lacey and Richard Collings Music: Matt Chandler Production Coordinator: Jonathan Harris Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland #BadPeople_BBC

Daniella Isaacs, the creator of the new BBC Sounds audio drama, People Who Knew Me, joins Dr Julia Shaw in a conversation about faking one’s own death and using the terrorist attacks in America on September 11th 2001 to do so. We ask, who fakes their own death and why? And how easy is it to pull it off? Warning: This episode contains references to the 9/11 attacks and also suicide and drowning. CREDITS Presenter: Dr Julia Shaw Producer: Simona Rata Assistant Producer: Hannah Ward Editors: Anna Lacey and Richard Collings Music: Matt Chandler Production Coordinator: Jonathan Harris Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland #BadPeople_BBC

Convicted child sex offender Mark Sutherland has arranged to meet a 13 year-old boy at a bus station, but when he arrives a team of adult “paedophile hunters” greet him with a video camera. In this episode of Bad People, hosts Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen explore vigilante justice. What right, if any, do these “hunters” have to track down sex offenders? When text messaging, do people have a right to privacy? And do sex offender registries make us safer or just more scared?CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Laura Northedge Assistant Producer: Hannah Ward Editors: Anna Lacey and Richard Collings Music: Matt Chandler Production Coordinator: Jonathan HarrisCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland#BadPeople_BBC

In 2010 Pramila Krishnan, a journalist for the Deccan Chronicle, filed a story about a little-known practice called Thalaikoothal. The story was huge in India and lead to the filming of the 2020 Tamil-language film Baaram, which translates as The Burden. In this episode of Bad People, Sofie Hagen and Dr Julia Shaw discuss senicide, the killing of older adults. At what point is someone “old” and how does frailty fit into it? At what age, if any, should we want to die? And how prevalent is elder abuse?The audio in this episode is from the film Baaram, directed by Priya Krishnaswamy, a Reckless Roses production. Some audio is also from Satyameva Jayate, produced by Aamir Khan Productions.CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Simona Rata Assistant Producer: Hannah Ward Editors: Anna Lacey and Richard Collings Music: Matt Chandler Production Coordinator:Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland#BadPeople_BBC

It’s 2001 and 14-year-old Anthony Haynes has died. He was one of some 50 kids who participated in a military-style, wilderness programme that was supposed to give troubled teens a new start. Hailed at the time as a local legend among parents struggling with their children, Anthony’s mother had enrolled him after a spell of behavioural problems. Yet, the wilderness therapy Anthony experienced consisted of drill instructions and desert isolation- the sort of ‘tough love’ rife within America’s Troubled Teen Industry.Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss the original ideas behind wilderness therapy, the experiences of survivors such as Paris Hilton, and the efficacy of the programmes of this unregulated industry. And, what are alternative interventions for reducing adolescent delinquency?CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Hannah Ward Editors: Anna Lacey and Martin Smith Music: Matt Chandler Production Coordinator: Jonathan HarrisCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland#BadPeople_BBC

The Central Park Five confess on video to police and appear on every front page in America. But why did they confess if it’s not true? In this second episode of this two parter, Bad People hosts Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen explore how the police interview children. Should they be treated the same as adults? Or is there a better way to extract their testimony? CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter Assistant Producer: Hannah Ward Editors: Anna Lacey and Richard Collings Music: Matt Chandler Production Co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland #BadPeople_BBC

It’s 9pm in New York City. More than thirty young men have gathered on the corner of 110th Street and 5th Avenue. They are attacking innocent people in Central Park. What they don’t know is that a woman will also be sexually assaulted, and that five of their friends will be convicted for a brutal crime they didn’t commit. The Central Park Five falsely confess on video to police. In this episode of Bad People, hosts Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen explore how well we know our right to silence, how much it is influenced by what we see on TV. They also ask: when does silence look like guilt? CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter Assistant Producer: Hannah Ward Editors: Anna Lacey and Richard Collings Music: Matt Chandler Production Co-ordinator: Jonathan HarrisCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland#BadPeople_BBC

In 2015 a woman in Saskatoon was strangled by a belt. Did her friend do it? She has been strangled by a belt that lies next to her body - the same belt her best friend was wearing in a photograph of the two of them that was posted on Facebook earlier that evening. What can really be learned by what we choose to post online? And what might cause a friendship to take a violent turn?On this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen explore the psychology of “breaking up” with friends, the role of social media for teens’ mental health, and why people so rarely murder their friends.CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Laura Northedge Assistant Producer: Hannah Ward Editor: Anna Lacey Music: Matt ChandlerCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland#BadPeople_BBCClip: The He Lab “About Lulu and Nana: Twin Girls Born Healthy After Gene Surgery As Single-Cell Embryos” Audio clips: CBS News and Saskatoon StarPhoenix

For her role in the Moors Murders, Myra Hindley was for many years described as ‘‘the most hated woman in Britain’’. So when her escape plot from HMP Holloway in late 1973 is part-aided by then prison guard Patricia Cairns, there is dismay at why anyone would go to such lengths for someone convicted of Hindley’s crimes. What was unearthed during the police investigation, however, was that Hindley and Cairns had established a relationship - not only through interactions within the prison, but through the deeper communication of letter writing that spanned some two years.In this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen explore how Hindley became an “unwitting architect” of whole-life sentences, and discuss the citizens who write to inmates. Why do people become prison pen pals and when is it unethical?CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Produced by Hannah Ward Editor: Anna Lacey Music: Matt Chandler Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland #BadPeople_BBC Bad People is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.

In Winson Green, Birmingham a category B prison is fit to burst, and on the 9th of October 2018 it finally does. Armed with one syringe, three men set five hundred convicts free and over the next twelve hours the building is almost burnt to the ground. The Winson Green riot was one of the largest prison mutinies for twenty-five years and leaves the public wondering how this could have happened. In this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen explore when prison riots become inevitable? What factors make violence more likely? And can PRISM prevent it? CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter Editors: Anna Lacey Music: Matt ChandlerCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland#BadPeople_BBC