Thesis (M.A.) in Communication--University of Maine, 2004. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves134-146).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rutgers University, 2007. / "Graduate Program in Psychology."

Cette thèse propose une approche rationnelle du phénomène de violence paroxystique en milieu scolaire. Sous le prisme des cindyniques urbaines, les possibles motivations d’une violence réactionnelle à l’égard de l’institution scolaire et de ses acteurs sont d’abord mises en exergue. Suffisent-elles à expliquer le recours à la violence extrême ? Nous proposons en second lieu des éléments de réponse consolidés, sur la base de 156 événements échelonnés sur un siècle à travers 5 continents et 25 pays. Après un large focus sur les espaces de perpétration, une typologie des auteurs est établie avec précision. L’analyse se porte ensuite sur les déterminants socioculturels de ces actions criminelles, dans une combinaison individuelle, conjoncturelle et sociétale. Cet examen détaillé autorise ensuite la modélisation des processus criminels à l’œuvre, selon le genre et l’âge des perpétrateurs. Les niveaux de criticité des facteurs de risque identifiés sont estimés, afin de faire émerger les « coupes minimales » d’un « arbre des causes » (phase pré-accidentelle). Celui-ci s’agrège à un arbre des conséquences (phase post-accidentelle), autour de « l’événement redouté central » que constitue l’acte de « school shooting ». Ce modèle discursif en forme de « nœud papillon » suppose in fine la déclinaison de barrières de mitigation des risques qui préfigurent, dans une approche transactionnelle de la sécurité, une stratégie globale et pluridisciplinaire d’anticipation des meurtres de masse dans les écoles, collèges, lycées et universités / This doctoral thesis proposes a rational and scientific approach to the phenomenon of paroxysmal violence in schools. Through the prism of urban “cindynics” (risk science), we first highlight the possible motivations of violent reaction against the school system and its actors. Are they sufficient to explain the use of extreme violence ? We secondly offer some consolidated elements to answer, based on 156 events spread over a century across 5 continents and 25 countries. After extensive focus on spaces of commission, a typology of the perpetrators is precisely established. The analysis then focuses on socio-cultural determinants of these criminal actions in a single, cyclical and societal combination.This detailed review then allows the modeling of criminal processes at work, gender and age of the perpetrators. Criticality levels of identified risk factors are estimated to bring out the “minimum cuts” of a causal tree (pre-accident phase). It aggregates to a tree consequences (post-accident phase) around the “central event dreaded” that is the act of school shooting. The interest of the “bow tie” thus formed extends beyond the stage of diagnosis. This discursive model assumes ultimately declination barriers of risk mitigation that prefigure, in a transactional approach to security, a comprehensive and multidisciplinary strategy of anticipation to mass murders in French and European schools or universities

American school shootings have received a lot of media, public and academic attention within the last two decades. Still, reasons behind the shocking events lie undiscovered. Although individual factors have been widely examined, researchers are yet to find commonalities. This thesis reviewed evidence of macro-sociological explanations for American school shootings and attempted to identify the roles of culture, cultural marginalisation and masculinity in American multi-victim school shootings using seven case studies from 1999-2018. Results identified cultural marginalisation as a key factor in all of the cases, whereas hegemonic and violent masculinities received some support. In addition, interconnectedness and relationships between anomie, culture, cultural marginalisation, masculinity and school shootings were discussed in more detail. Finally, future suggestions were made, and conclusions were drawn.

abstract: Despite the concern over school shootings in the last twenty years, little has been done to prevent these events. This paper addresses the need to have a consistent definition of a school shooting. The policies that have been enacted in the eight states with the most shootings in the past 20 are categorized and compared to the number of incidences and victims. The study concludes that states need fewer reactionary policies and more policies based on systematic research; these states pass a majority of zero-tolerance, which are shown to be ineffective in preventing school shootings suggesting a need for a new approach to writing and addressing policy. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Integrative Social Science 2020

No description available.

Mass media has great influence over its audience. When a sensational story hits the news waves, the general public's attention is instantly riveted to the television screen. News stories that involve the deaths of innocent people often create a culture of fear, fuel false narratives, and scatter misinformation. In fact, this culture of fear, coupled with misleading information, created the myth of the juvenile superpredator, a phrase coined by DiIulio in the early 1990s. The stereotyped superpredator was a homicidal, uncontrollable youth hiding within areas where crime and violence are rare. In particular, this myth was propagated following the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999. Across time, misinformation and false narratives served to spotlight the perpetrators' notoriety—their ultimate motivation for perpetrating this heinous attack. News media, law enforcement, and school administrators are in the unique position to stop the spread of misinformation and prevent school shooters from gaining the fame they desperately seek, a common motivation among school shooters and copycat perpetrators. This study seeks to explore how the media portrayed the Columbine High School shooters and how it fed into the myth of the juvenile superpredator. This study analyzed youth violence risk factors in the wake of the Columbine High School Shooting to determine if news media was accurate in their reporting. We wanted to determine if news coverage was a major influence on the public's perception of youth violence. These risk factors were scrutinized from television news coverage from national news organizations. Results indicate that in the wake of school shootings, strong considerations regarding ethical news reporting and clearer lines of communication between school administrators and law enforcement officials may prevent misinformation from spreading in the first place and may prevent school shooters from gaining notoriety in such aftermaths. Additionally, curtailing the spread of misinformation may help communities prevent reactionary policies that ultimately harm school students through overly punitive measures.

Despite their almost aberrational rarity, rampage school shootings have gained national attention to an extent that would make it seem that such events are a common occurrence. Many schools—along with hospitals, businesses, and other institutions—have adopted policies, implemented training, and conducted drills for responding to such incidents. In some cases, concern over school rampage shootings has led to bad policy implementations, particularly adoption of “zero tolerance” policies that punish the slightest infractions in hopes of thwarting potential attackers, but, rather than achieving their intended goal, result in massive false positive rates with few, if any, successes and a potential for fostering violence rather than abating it. For their part, law enforcement trainers and administrators have been caught in the rampage school shooter turmoil to such an extent that, starting with the aftermath of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, significant paradigm shifts in policing methodology have taken effect. In order to promote more informed policy-making and training decisions by law enforcement managers, this dissertation seeks to determine through empirical study of the crime scene behaviors of rampage school shooters the extent to which law enforcement planning and training can be informed by the study of prior incidents. Policy, training protocols, and institutional response plans have been shaped, in many cases, by a world of perception rather than reason and sound empirical evidence. This research seeks to bring clarity to the decision-making processes and provide sound empirical evidence on which to base those decisions and develop strategies for on-site protocols to help mitigate casualties, establish police response protocols, and develop post-incident investigative models.

No description available.

On April 16, 2007, 32 students and faculty were killed on the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University campus, making this incident the deadliest mass school shooting in United States history. Other school shootings, such as the infamous Columbine High School shootings and the more recent Northern Illinois State shootings, have become popular topics in today's social media (Kaminski et al, 2010; Reese 2009). Due to these events, schools and universities have become interested in the safety of their students as well as the students overall feelings towards crime while on their campus. New research studies have taken an interest in students' overall fear of crime and how this fear is impacted by variables including sex of the student and the time of day (Kaminski et al. 2010; Murray 2001). Though these studies have found who is more fearful of crime and which types of crime are feared most among their samples, these studies and others do not take into account whether the student is aware of shooting incidents that have occurred on college campuses around the country. The current study addresses this gap. The purpose of this study is to measure whether a University of Central Florida student's knowledge of mass school shootings influences their own levels of fear regarding crime and criminal victimization. Using an anonymous online survey, data from students at the University of Central Florida was collected and analyzed. The survey used quiz style questioning to gauge a students' overall knowledge on mass school shootings. Other questions such as demographics fear of various types of crime, and fear of different locations on campus were also asked.; This research addresses which areas of the University of Central Florida that students fear most (such as the Parking Garages), whether a student who lives in off campus housing is more fearful then a student who lives on campus, and whether having more knowledge of mass school shootings cause more fear of crime in students then those with less knowledge, and do students with more knowledge feel that they will be victimized more. This research hopes to help the University of Central Florida's Counseling center and well as the UCF Police Department to help understand students fears and needs to help create a safer learning environment and help those students in need in addition to adding to the overall literature on fear of crime.