Citation

Silva JR, Greene-Colozzi EA. Vict. Offender 2021; 16(4): 565-586.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15564886.2020.1823919

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study uses the routine activities framework to identify motivation, target, and guardian characteristics influencing the severity of mass shooting fatalities and injuries. Significant findings indicate media-driven motivations, particularly fame-seeking perpetrators, produced more casualties. Open-spaces and schools provided more suitable targets, with open-spaces incurring more fatalities and schools incurring more injuries. Guardianship variables indicated perpetrators with a history of mental illness, as well as incidents involving rifles, more than one gun, and ending in the perpetrator's death, all resulted in higher rates of victimization. A discussion of findings highlights targeted policy and security strategies aimed at reducing the victim-counts attributed to mass shooting attacks.

Language: en

Keywords

gun violence; harm mitigation; Mass shooting; routine activities theory; victims