Mass Homicides and Childhood Life Events - Sanchez & Ferguson (2021)
This research note explores exposure to bullying, childhood trauma, and video game violence among mass homicide perpetrators.| Journal of Mass Violence Research
This research note explores exposure to bullying, childhood trauma, and video game violence among mass homicide perpetrators.| Journal of Mass Violence Research
Suicide-related thoughts and behaviors (SRTBs) have become identified as common antecedent experiences of mass shooters prior to and during their shootings. To better support and inform efforts of such upstream prevention and intervention efforts of mass violence, this study aimed to provide an exploratory descriptive perspective of the interpersonal experiences of mass shooters who survived and those who died on the scene (i.e., died by self-inflicted suicide, or died by police intervention)...| Journal of Mass Violence Research
This study examines the role of partisan media bias in the reporting of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida on February 14, 2018, and on the March For Our Lives gun control protests that followed the shooting. This study posits partisan media bias at the center of the Parkland shooting. It asks how partisan bias affected the way the media constructed narratives about the shooting and the youth activists who mobilized because of their experiences of victimiza...| Journal of Mass Violence Research
Twitter is a popular social medium for members of U.S. Congress, and the platform has become focal for framing policy discussions for constituents and the media. The current study examines the corpus of N = 5,768 Congressional tweets sent on the day of and week following the 2018 Parkland shooting, over 25 percent of which (n = 1,615) were related to the shooting. Democrats were far more likely to engage Parkland as a prominent topic in their Twitter feeds. Democrats framed Parkland discussio...| Journal of Mass Violence Research
While schools face a variety of security threats, none draw the attention of the community quite like an active shooter event. In fact, following an active shooter event in a school many states, local governments, and/or school districts will announce proposed security measures to better protect students, staff, and visitors to schools. While there are innovated security measures proposed, it is well-known that no shooter has breached a locked door. For this reason, this paper seeks to examin...| Journal of Mass Violence Research
Since transitioning out of communist socio-political orders, more than a dozen Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have experienced mass shootings. To date, scholars have yet to identify a sample of cases that occurred throughout these regions of the world. This study puts forward the first collection of data on attempted and completed mass shootings through introducing 76 cases that occurred in 15 countries from 1993 to 2021. Data comprise 24 variables including offender characteris...| Journal of Mass Violence Research
In this commentary, we propose a unifying public mass shooting definition that captures the generally conceptualized phenomenon but also expands the inclusion to all incidents regardless of casualty count. We suggest that public mass shootings be broken down into four outcome categories – completed, attempted, failed, and foiled – which have unique incident outcomes but share a common thread of mass intent. We argue for the importance of a no-minimum casualty count definition (thus includ...| Journal of Mass Violence Research
As defined back in the 1980s, the term “mass shooting” has long been understood to mean the intentional killing of four or more victims with gunfire in a single incident. However, recent efforts to examine this rare and tragic crime have employed alternate definitional criteria. In order to facilitate cross-study comparisons and curb rampant public fear, it is imperative that scholars, politicians, and the media avoid using the same terminology to describe very different phenomena. In thi...| Journal of Mass Violence Research
The definitions and terms used to describe single-incident mass casualty events vary widely and remain contested. To allow for the inclusion of more incidents, larger and more representative samples, and more comprehensive analyses, we argue in favor of using the broad term “rampage” and propose a new model, the Rampage Violence Status Model (RVSM), which provides additional context on completion status and can subsume previous terminology. Additionally, by expanding upon previous researc...| Journal of Mass Violence Research
This introduction to the special issue of the Journal of Mass Violence Research on definitional issues and mass shootings welcomes readers.| Journal of Mass Violence Research
Various forms of mass violence plague the United States and countries around the world, and all require critical scholarship aimed at understanding their root causes and prevalence. Moreover, this type of research requires an understanding of the specific nuances of these issues to better inform policy and work towards prevention efforts. As researchers in this area, we, like others, have experienced challenges in getting our research published. Even more, while there are many researchers and...| Journal of Mass Violence Research
This introduction to the inaugural issue of the Journal of Mass Violence Research describes the impetus for the journal and welcomes readers.| Journal of Mass Violence Research
