A Distinction Without a Difference? Examining the Causal Pathways Behind Ideologically Motivated Mass Public Shootings

Capellan, Joel A.; Anisin, Alexei

doi:10.1177/1088767918770704

Cited by 28 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…We found considerable evidence of both chronic and acute strain for public mass murderers who appear to experience both at absolutely high levels and relatively high levels in comparison with lone actor terrorists. Our findings are consistent with a recent research into differences in general and acute strains suffered by nonextremist and extremist mass public shooters (Capellan & Anisin, 2018). Nevertheless, the results do not uniformly validate CST as we found less robust confirmation for the other hypothesized stages.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Shared Struggles? Cumulative Strain Theory and Public Mass Murderers From 1990 to 2014

2018

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Scholars have urged a shift in research on mass murder from the creation of typologies to theoretically-rich, data-driven comparative examinations of the phenomenon. We seek to redress such calls in two ways. First, we analyze a unique sample of public mass murderers through the multi-stage explanatory model of cumulative strain theory. Second, we use a comparison group of similarly violent offenders-lone actor terrorists-to provide context to our findings. The results demonstrate that cumulative strain theory usefully describes the trajectory toward violence of public mass murderers, more so when a concept implicit in the theory-grievanceis made explicit.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Shared Struggles? Cumulative Strain Theory and Public Mass Murderers From 1990 to 2014

2018

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“…A significant number of these offenders have a history of substance abuse and mental illness. Consistent with previous comparative studies , these similarities suggest that social, economic, and psychological processes behind mass public shootings are the same for disgruntled employee , school , ideologically motivated, and rampage shooters.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Consistent with the growing literature, we define a mass public shooting as an incident of targeted violence where an offender has killed or unequivocally attempted to kill four or more victims on a public stage (e.g., workplace, schools, parks, and businesses) in one or multiple closely related locations within a 24-h period (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(9)(10)(11)(12). Both familicides and felony-related mass shootings are excluded from this operationalization (12).…”

Section: Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consistent with most studies on the subject (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19), we employed an open-source data collection strategy to identify and collect information on both failed and successful mass public shootings that occurred in the United States from 1966 to 2017. Open-source data are information that is open to the public (20).…”

Section: Data Collection Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The literature on mass shootings has given us valuable insights on the incidence , demographic and background characteristics of offenders , motivations , and individual, and macrolevel processes that may be responsible for their incidence and distribution . While their findings have been instrumental for our understanding, this body of research implicitly ignores the heterogeneity found in the characteristics, behaviors, and motivations of mass shooters.…”

Section: Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Disaggregating Mass Public Shootings: A Comparative Analysis of Disgruntled Employee, School, Ideologically motivated, and Rampage Shooters

Capellan

Johnson

Porter

et al. 2018

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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This study compares the demographic, background, motivation, and pre‐event and event‐level behaviors across four types of mass public shooters: disgruntled employee, school, ideologically motivated, and rampage offenders. Using a database containing detailed information on 318 mass public shootings that occurred in the United States between 1966 and 2017, we find systematic differences in the characteristics, motivations, target selection, planning, and incident‐level behaviors among these offenders. The results show that ideologically motivated shooters to be the most patient, and methodical, and as a result the most lethal. Conversely, disgruntled employees, who are driven by revenge, tend to have little time to plan and consequently are the least lethal shooters. These, among other differences, underscore the need for prevention strategies and policies to be tailored to specific types of offenders. Furthermore, the results also highlight commonalities across offender type, suggesting that the social and psychological pathways to violence are universal across offenders.

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Mental disorder, psychological problems and terrorist behaviour: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Sarma

Carthy

Cox

2022

Campbell Systematic Reviews

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Background: The link between mental health difficulties and terrorist behaviour has been the subject of debate for the last 50 years. Studies that report prevalence rates of mental health difficulties in terrorist samples or compare rates for those involved and not involved in terrorism, can inform this debate and the work of those responsible for countering violent extremism.Objectives: To synthesise the prevalence rates of mental health difficulties in terrorist samples (Objective 1-Prevalence) and prevalence of mental health disorders pre-dating involvement in terrorism (Objective 2-Temporality). The review also synthesises the extent to which mental health difficulties are associated with terrorist involvement compared to non-terrorist samples (Objective 3-Risk Factor).Search Methods: Searches were conducted between April and June 2022, capturing research until December 2021. We contacted expert networks, hand-searched specialist journals, harvested records from published reviews, and examined references lists for included papers to identify additional studies.Selection Criteria: Studies needed to empirically examine mental health difficulties and terrorism. To be included under Objective 1 (Prevalence) and Objective 2 (Temporality), studies had to adopt cross-sectional, cohort, or case-control design and report prevalence rates of mental health difficulties in terrorist samples, with studies under Objective 2 also needing to report prevalence of difficulties before detection or involvement in terrorism. For Objective 3 (Risk Factor) studies where there was variability in terrorist behaviour (involved vs. not involved) were included.Data Collection and Analysis: Captured records were screened in DisillterSR by two authors. Risk of bias was assessed using Joanna Briggs Institute checklists, and random-effects meta-analysis conducted in Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software.Results: Fifty-six papers reporting on 73 different terrorist samples (i.e., studies) (n = 13,648) were identified. All were eligible for Objective 1. Of the 73 studies, 10

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A Distinction Without a Difference? Examining the Causal Pathways Behind Ideologically Motivated Mass Public Shootings

Cited by 28 publications

References 38 publications

Shared Struggles? Cumulative Strain Theory and Public Mass Murderers From 1990 to 2014

Shared Struggles? Cumulative Strain Theory and Public Mass Murderers From 1990 to 2014

Disaggregating Mass Public Shootings: A Comparative Analysis of Disgruntled Employee, School, Ideologically motivated, and Rampage Shooters

Mental disorder, psychological problems and terrorist behaviour: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

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