Criminal Minds is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Jeff Davis that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. It follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU).

Criminal Minds became a ratings success for CBS, consistently ranking among the network’s most-watched programs and winning the People’s Choice Award for Best TV Crime Drama in 2017. Its success has spawned a media franchise, with several spinoffs, a South Korean adaptation, and a video game.

Criminal Minds originally culminated after its fifteenth season on February 19, 2020; however, it was revived and re-titled Criminal Minds: Evolution for its sixteenth season, which premiered on Paramount+ in November 2022. In March 2025, Criminal Minds was renewed for a nineteenth season.

The series follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) using behavioral analysis and profiling to help investigate crimes and find the suspect known as the unsub (unknown subject).

The team is supervised by Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner, and later Emily Prentiss. The team included Jason Gideon, the founder of the BAU, who was known as the best profiler in the Bureau; Derek Morgan, an ex-Chicago Police officer who is an expert on obsessional crimes; Spencer Reid, an expert on geographic profiling; Jennifer Jareau (JJ), the team's communications liaison, who later becomes a profiler; Elle Greenaway, an expert on sex crimes; David Rossi, one of the original BAU agents who is also an expert in criminal profiling; Ashley Seaver, a rookie FBI agent; Alex Blake, a linguistics specialist helping with nuances in communication; Kate Callahan, a seasoned undercover agent; Tara Lewis, a forensic psychologist; Luke Alvez, an expert fugitive tracker who becomes a profiler on the team; Stephen Walker, an expert on counterintelligence; and Matt Simmons, an expert profiler who joins the team from the FBI International Response Team.

The first season of Criminal Minds received mixed reviews from critics. It has a Metacritic score of 42 based on 21 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Dorothy Rabinowitz said, in her review for The Wall Street Journal, "From the evidence of the first few episodes, Criminal Minds may be a hit, and deservedly" and gave particular praise to Gubler and Patinkin's performances. Ned Martel in The New York Times was less positive, saying, "The problem with "Criminal Minds" is its many confusing maladies, applied to too many characters." The reviewer felt that "as a result, the cast seems like a spilled trunk of broken toys, with which the audience—and perhaps the creators—may quickly become bored." The Chicago Tribune reviewer, Sid Smith, felt that the show "may well be worth a look", though he too criticized the "confusing plots and characters". Writing in PopMatters, Marco Lanzagorta criticized the show after its premiere, saying it "confuses critical thinking with supernatural abilities" and that its characters conform to stereotypes. In the Los Angeles Times, Mary McNamara gave a similar review, and praised Patinkin and Gubler's performances.

Gillian Flynn said, in her review for Entertainment Weekly, "Like every procedural crime series of late, Minds is stocked with weary, overworked detective types. But here they also seem bored, bitter, and unengaged."^{[better source needed]}