Derek Morgan (played by Shemar Moore) is a confident and assertive everyman character, the son of an African-American father and Caucasian mother. He went to Northwestern University on a football scholarship, holds a black belt in Judo, runs FBI self-defense classes, and served in a bomb squad unit and as a Chicago police officer. He and his two sisters, Sarah and Desirée, grew up in a tough urban Chicago neighborhood.

At age 10, Morgan was witnessed to the shooting death of his father. After the death of his father, Morgan struggled somewhat; youthful fighting earned him a juvenile criminal record. He was taken under the wing of a local youth center coordinator, Carl Buford.

Buford acted as a surrogate father to Morgan, helping Morgan to obtain the aforementioned football scholarship, but also sexually abusing him which was later revealed by Morgan years later, under extreme duress.E212 As a teen he discovered the body of an unidentified boy, which had a profound effect on him (he saved up some money to buy the boy a headstone & visited the boy's grave every time he came home to Chicago). Years later his past would come back to haunt him went he is arrested by the Chicago PD for the unidentified boy & two others. The lead detective (who had arrested Morgan several times as a boy) believes Morgan is guilty and uses a BAU profile done by Jason Gideon (unaware Derek was the prime suspect) to support his case.

The BAU searches through Morgan's life and background, believing he was a victim of a frame-up by the real killer. They later identify Carl Buford as the man who set Derek up to take the fall (Buford was friends with the lead detective). When Hotch asks about Buford, Derek tells him to back-off.

Derek then escapes police custody and talks to a local boy who was friends with the latest victim. The boy reveals he is currently being molested by Buford and that the latest victim knew about it. Derek confronts Buford who at first denies anything happened between him and Morgan, and tells Derek the other boy is lying.

Derek doesn't back down (he wishes that he had told someone about Buford when he was a kid), he eventually gets Buford to admit to the abuse. Buford's admission is overheard by Chicago detectives (who were hiding nearby) and they arrest Buford. Buford pleads with Derek to help amd Derek tells Buford "You Can Go To Hell!", leaving the child molester to his fate.

E212 He was at one point being looked at to replace SSA Joyner and head up the New York field officeE320 but Hotch later told Morgan that he didn't recommend him because (said Hotch) Derek doesn't have enough trust in his coworkers.E401 Morgan is known for intense physical bravado: once he chased an unsub to a train, then jumped aboard himself. Unfortunately, he then had to hang on for dear life until Hotch shot the suspect.E405 Derek bears an especially intense grudge against George Foyet/The Boston Reaper. After Derek was knocked by Foyet in early 2009, Foyet stole Morgan's FBI credentials; those credentials reappeared when Foyet deposited a severely injured Aaron Hotchner in the St.

Sebastian's Emergency Room.E501 Morgan is very charming, and has been seen flirting with many women, even dancing with several at a time in a bar.E214 He even asked Jordan Todd out (later realizing that she would be his coworker.) However, as with most BAU agents, a long-term stable romantic relationship has so far eluded him. He is, however, intensely devoted to his coworkers, especially Penelope Garcia. They have a bantering, sweet, yet platonic relationship.

Derek often calls her "baby girl" (having called her that when he didn't know her name, he continued doing so when she seemed to like itE319), and he told her in the aftermath of the New York bombing that she was his "God-given solace".E401 Because of his experiences as a teen, Derek seems to bear a lingering hostility towards organized religion, but he still prays, even going so far as to visit a church.E308

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