Handbook of Research on Mass Shootings and Multiple Victim Violence


Book Description

The phenomena of mass shootings appear to be on the rise. Within the past decade, shootings have occurred in schools, religious institutions, concerts, movie theaters, and other public venues, as well as at home in the form of domestic mass shootings. This phenomenon is influenced by factors such as access to guns, mental illness, the desire for fame, revenge from being bullied, and copycat killing to name a few. Mass shootings are a serious problem for society and must be explored further in order to provide preventive solutions. The Handbook of Research on Mass Shootings and Multiple Victim Violence is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on contributing factors to gun violence, characteristics of shooters and victims, solutions for preventing incidents from occurring, and the impact these shootings have on the community. While highlighting topics such as school safety, cyberbullying, and mental illness, this publication is ideally designed for law enforcement, government officials, psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, politicians, policymakers, law makers, academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on the latest empirical findings of mass shootings in the United States.




The Violence Project


Book Description

"Groundbreaking." ―Rachel Louise Snyder, bestselling author of No Visible Bruises An examination of the phenomenon of mass shootings in America and an urgent call to implement evidence-based strategies to stop these tragedies Winner of the 2022 Minnesota Book Award Using data from the writers’ groundbreaking research on mass shooters, including first-person accounts from the perpetrators themselves, The Violence Project charts new pathways to prevention and innovative ways to stop the social contagion of violence. Frustrated by reactionary policy conversations that never seemed to convert into meaningful action, special investigator and psychologist Jill Peterson and sociologist James Densley built The Violence Project, the first comprehensive database of mass shooters. Their goal was to establish the root causes of mass shootings and figure out how to stop them by examining hundreds of data points in the life histories of more than 170 mass shooters—from their childhood and adolescence to their mental health and motives. They’ve also interviewed the living perpetrators of mass shootings and people who knew them, shooting survivors, victims’ families, first responders, and leading experts to gain a comprehensive firsthand understanding of the real stories behind them, rather than the sensationalized media narratives that too often prevail. For the first time, instead of offering thoughts and prayers for the victims of these crimes, Peterson and Densley share their data-driven solutions for exactly what we must do, at the individual level, in our communities, and as a country, to put an end to these tragedies that have defined our modern era.




Impact of School Shootings on Classroom Culture, Curriculum, and Learning


Book Description

Different areas of inquiry have addressed the tragedy of school shootings and their deeply disruptive impacts upon school culture, classrooms, and student learning in this contemporary moment. Therefore, it is important to bring together interdisciplinary research on the long-term impacts of these events on students, teachers, and communities. In an age where arming classroom teachers is a serious policy initiative, there is a question of how a culture of fear manifests itself in those involved in school systems. There is a need to study these effects and implications in a time where violence and school shootings appear to have become more common than ever before. Hence, there is a need for diverse perspectives in this area of complex and urgent inquiry. Impact of School Shootings on Classroom Culture, Curriculum, and Learning explores the manifestations of the threat of school shootings and the aftermath of such tragic events through an interdisciplinary approach including but not limited to inquiries from educational psychology, sociology, educational philosophy, school leadership, and school culture with a view towards understanding the enduring and obscured effects of school shootings beyond the prevailing emphasis on facility safety and security. While chapters highlight topics such as resilience and recovery, school culture, sociology of schools, leadership and school regulation, and many more areas of interest, this book is ideal for educational leaders and administrators, classroom teachers, counselors, therapists, psychologists, school division trustees, law enforcement, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students looking for the impacts and aftermath of school shootings on all aspects of education.




Mass Shootings


Book Description

This book provides readers and researchers with a critical examination of mass shootings as told by the media, offering research-based, factual answers to oft-asked questions and investigating common myths about these tragic events. When a mass shooting happens, the news media is flooded with headlines and breaking information about the shooters, victims, and acts themselves. What is notably absent in the news reporting are any concrete details that serve to inform news consumers how prevalent these mass shootings really are (or are not, when considering crime statistics as a whole), what legitimate causes for concern are, and how likely an individual is to be involved in such an incident. Instead, these events often are used as catalysts for conversations about larger issues such as gun control and mental health care reform. What critical points are we missing when the media focuses on only what "people want to hear"? This book explores the media attention to mass shootings and helps readers understand the problem of mass shootings and public gun violence from its inception to its existence in contemporary society. It discusses how the issue is defined, its history, and its prevalence in both the United States and other countries, and provides an exploration of the responses to these events and strategies for the prevention of future violence. The book focuses on the myths purported about these unfortunate events, their victims, and their perpetrators through typical U.S. media coverage as well as evidence-based facts to contradict such narratives. The book's authors pay primary attention to contemporary shootings in the United States but also discuss early events dating back to the 1700s and those occurring internationally. The accessible writing enables readers of varying grade levels, including laypersons, to gain a more in-depth—and accurate—understanding of the context of mass shootings in the United States. As a result, readers will be better able to contribute to meaningful discussions related to mass shooting events and the resulting responses and policies.




Research Anthology on Modern Violence and Its Impact on Society


Book Description

Violence on both large and small scales has a tremendous impact on society. The causes and impacts of violence have been under study for decades; however, in the modern era, it is important to remain knowledgeable of the current research on violence. As tragic events flood news headlines around the world, it is essential to evaluate violence, its causes, and its impact on society in order to mitigate and prevent violence globally. The Research Anthology on Modern Violence and Its Impact on Society discusses the causes, ideologies, and perceptions of modern violence and examines its impact on society. It presents emerging research on modern violence in multiple dimensions from interpersonal to mass violence. Covering topics such as gun violence, radicalization, and victim-offender overlap, this major reference work is an essential resource for sociologists, politicians, government officials, law enforcement, community leaders, educators and administrators of both K-12 and higher education, students of higher education, psychologists, criminologists, victimologists, researchers, and academicians.




The Palgrave Handbook of Violence in Film and Media


Book Description

The chapters contained in this handbook address key issues concerning the aesthetics, ethics, and politics of violence in film and media. In addition to providing analyses of representations of violence, they also critically discuss the phenomenology of the spectator, images of atrocity in international cinema, affect and documentary, violent video games, digital infrastructures, cruelty in art cinema, and media and state violence, among many other relevant topics. The Palgrave Handbook of Violence in Film and Media updates existing studies dealing with media and violence while vastly expanding the scope of the field. Representations of violence in film and media are ubiquitous but remain relatively understudied. Too often they are relegated to questions of morality, taste, or aesthetics while judgments about violence can themselves be subjected to moral judgment. Some may question whether objectionable images are worthy of serious scholarly attention at all. While investigating key examples, the chapters in this handbook consider both popular and academic discourses to understand how representations of violence are interpreted and discussed. They propose new approaches and raise novel questions for how we might critically think about this urgent issue within contemporary culture.




Research Anthology on School Shootings, Peer Victimization, and Solutions for Building Safer Educational Institutions


Book Description

Though decades ago school shootings were rare events, today they are becoming normalized. Active shooter drills have become more commonplace as pressure is placed on schools and law enforcement to prevent the next attack. Yet others argue the traumatizing effects of such exercises on the students. Additionally, violence between students continues to remain problematic as bullying pervades children’s lives both at school and at home, leading to negative mental health impacts and, in extreme cases, suicide. Establishing safer school policies, promoting violence prevention programs, building healthier classroom environments, and providing better staff training are all vital for protecting students physically and mentally. The Research Anthology on School Shootings, Peer Victimization, and Solutions for Building Safer Educational Institutions examines the current sources of violence within educational systems, and it offers solutions on how to provide a safer space for both students and educators alike. Broken into four sections, the book examines the causes and impacts that peer victimization has on students and how this can lead to further violence and investigates strategies for detecting the warning signs. The book provides solutions that range from policies and programs that can be established to strategies for teaching nonviolence and promoting coexistence in the classroom. Highlighting a range of topics such as violence prevention, school climate, and bullying, this publication is an ideal reference source for school administrators, law enforcement, teachers, government and state officials, school boards, academicians, researchers, and upper-level students who are intent on stopping the persisting and unfortunate problem that is school violence.




Examining Gun Regulations, Warning Behaviors, and Policies to Prevent Mass Shootings


Book Description

Mass shootings have become more prevalent in the past few decades, especially within the United States. Whilst the United States has suffered from hundreds of mass shootings over the years, policy change relating to guns has been limited in scope, particularly when compared with other developed nations. Recognizing that the United States has a different history and culture, new policies must be undertaken to mitigate the occurrences of mass shootings with the understanding that its response should not be the same as other developed nations. Examining Gun Regulations, Warning Behaviors, and Policies to Prevent Mass Shootings is a critical reference book that analyzes the debates around and responses to mass shootings with a two-fold focus: the prevention, preparation, response, and recovery of mass shootings and gun proposals raised following these incidents. With a specific look at the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the author scrutinizes the news media coverage following the incident to document its role in policy discussions, while also examining new policy responses and gun violence prevention actions that have gained traction since the event. Including the voices of those involved in gun violence prevention, as well as interviews with experts in areas dealing with prevention, preparation, and emergency response and recovery, this book centers on forthcoming themes such as licensing systems of firearms, smart gun technologies, assault weapons and weapons bans, and the portrayal of mass shootings in media. This book is essential for policymakers/lawmakers, news media, politicians and government officials, emergency management personnel, academicians, researchers, and students.




Routledge Handbook of Homicide Studies


Book Description

The Routledge Handbook of Homicide Studies comprehensively examines the topic of homicide from a diverse collection of perspectives and backgrounds. It brings together original contributions on homicide, with a focus on the broad range of impacts of homicide from a multitude of disciplines that evaluate and examine homicide in actual practice and theory. The editors have assembled a comprehensive collection highlighting the multifaceted causes and ramifications of homicide both across the United States and globally, with chapters exploring the current state of homicide, typologies of homicides offenders, causes and correlates of homicide, homicides and the criminal justice system, and a professional observations chapters authored by some of the leading practicing professionals in the world, many of whom have made pivotal contributions to the evaluation and investigation of homicide offenders and cases. Providing state-of-the-art scholarship on homicide in modern society, this handbook is a key collection and an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and practitioners engaged in the study of homicide across a diverse range of disciplines, including criminal justice and criminology, psychology, sociology, forensics, interdisciplinary departments, and sociolegal studies.




Combating the Exploitation of Children in Cyberspace: Emerging Research and Opportunities


Book Description

The internet has greatly enhanced access to, dissemination, and sale of child pornography, which is a profitable industry estimated to generate billions of dollars worldwide. While efforts to address the issue of sexual exploitation of children may be slow, the capabilities of offenders to organize, communicate over the internet, and harness technology are unequivocally fast. Protection of children against cyber exploitation has become imperative, and measures should be taken that are specific and targeted to provide specialized victim identification capabilities; adequate protection for children using the internet; genuine participation of children; a full and responsible private sector; and finally, coordinated, effective, and structured international cooperation to protect all children. Combating the Exploitation of Children in Cyberspace: Emerging Research and Opportunities provides innovative research for understanding all elements of combating cyber exploitation of children including the roles of law enforcement, international organizations, and the judicial system and educating children and their families to the dangers of the independent internet usage through cyberspace awareness programs. The content within this publication examines child grooming, cyberbullying, and cybercrime. It is designed for law enforcement, lawmakers, teachers, government officials, policymakers, IT specialists, cybercriminal researchers, psychologists, victim advocates, professionals, academicians, researchers, and students.