The impacts of the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University shootings on fear of crime on campus

Kaminski, Robert J.; Koons‐Witt, Barbara A.; Thompson, Norma Stewart; Weiss, Douglas B.

doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2009.11.011

Cited by 82 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Finally, fear of mass killings is itself a societal problem with a number of serious consequences. High‐profile mass killings produce the secondary victimization of people whose psychological and physical health suffers despite no direct involvement in these crimes (Holman, Garfin, & Silver, ; Kaminski, Koons‐Witt, Thompson, & Weiss, ; Norris, ; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass Killings in the United States from 2006 to 2013: Social Contagion or Random Clusters?

Lankford

Tomek

2017

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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In line with previous research on suicide and social contagion, there has been widespread speculation that mass killings-which often involve suicidal offenders-are socially contagious for up to 14 days. This study tested these claims by making comparisons (i) between observed chronological clusters of mass killings in the United States from 2006 to 2013 and clusters in 500 simulations containing 116,000 randomly generated dates, and then (ii) between observed mass killings receiving varying levels of public attention. No evidence of short-term contagion was found, although longer term copycat effects may exist. Further scholarly and policy implications are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass Killings in the United States from 2006 to 2013: Social Contagion or Random Clusters?

Lankford

Tomek

2017

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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“…A. Fox et al, 2009;Jennings, Gover, & Pudrzynska, 2007;Kaminski et al, 2010;Lane, Gover, & Dahod, 2009). Among females, the fear of sexual victimization has been hypothesized to overshadow fear of other victimization experiences (Dobbs, Waid, & Shelley, 2009;Ferraro, 1995;Fisher & Sloan, 2003;Lane et al, 2009).…”

Section: Hypothesized Predictors Of Safety Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

College Student Perceptions of Campus Safety Initiatives

Schafer

Lee

Burruss

et al. 2016

Criminal Justice Policy Review

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In the aftermath of tragic campus-based incidents causing injury and death, it has become common to see discussions concerning the safety measures institutions should be taking to prevent or mitigate the harm of such events. The recommended approaches reflect a degree of face validity but largely lack empirical grounding or clear evidence of support from the largest population they seek to protect-college students. Using survey data from six Illinois colleges, this study examines the level of student support for campus safety practices. Applying a framework derived from literature on fear of crime and other salient concepts, multivariate modeling is used to explain variation in the observed level of student support. The explanatory models offer limited insight into the factors shaping why students do or do not support campus safety practices. The findings demonstrate the importance of considering the views of students when institutions make decisions about campus safety policies.

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“…The purpose of the present research was to analyze the temporal changes of themes that emerge in social media during the 2week contagion period and to assess relationships between themes that may ultimately facilitate the contagion effect. sense of safety (Kaminski et al 2010;Stretesky and Hogan 2001). Research that specifically focuses on analysis of social media during an active shooting has shown that multiple themes emerge during the event, including emotional reactions, information about the shooter, personal connections, thoughts and prayers, and calls for action (Mazer et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media During the School Shooting Contagion Period

Kien

Begay

Lee

et al. 2019

Violence and Gender

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School shootings have been on the rise and researchers have documented a ''contagion effect'' in which school shootings increase in probability during a 2-week period following an event (e.g., Towers et al. 2015). While there is a growing body of research examining media coverage of school shootings, more research is needed to investigate the role of media coverage during the specific 2-week contagion period. The purpose of the present research was to analyze the temporal changes of themes that emerge in social media throughout the contagion period and to assess relationships between themes that may ultimately facilitate the contagion effect. We conducted an analysis of Twitter posts following the Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas, which was preceded by two school shootings the week prior and followed by another school shooting a week later. The results supported previous research suggesting that sadness is associated with greater ''psychological closeness'' to the event. The results also showed that both sadness and anger were strongly correlated with information about the shooter, including the shooter's name. Discourse demonstrating awareness of school shooting contagion was associated with comments about the role of media in school shootings. These findings represent the first attempt to analyze social media during the specific 2-week contagion period. Implications regarding the extent to which these themes trigger the goals of a prospective shooter are discussed.

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The impacts of the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University shootings on fear of crime on campus

Cited by 82 publications

References 28 publications

Mass Killings in the United States from 2006 to 2013: Social Contagion or Random Clusters?

Mass Killings in the United States from 2006 to 2013: Social Contagion or Random Clusters?

College Student Perceptions of Campus Safety Initiatives

Social Media During the School Shooting Contagion Period

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