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

Thesis (M.F.A.)--West Virginia University, 2010. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 214 p. Includes abstract.

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.

Geographic profiling is a technique used by crime investigators and the police to examine the locations of a connected series of crimes, to determine the most probable area of the offender’s residence. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, Geographic profiling helps to better interpret the spatial behavior of an offender and focuses the investigation on a specific and smaller area of the community. From the abovementioned and from previous research, we know that Geographic profiling is useful in serial crimes such as in cases of serial murderers, serial rapists etc. Having as a point of reference Malmö, because of the many shooting incidents that have happened through the last years, in this master thesis dissertation, a systematic literature review on Geographic Profiling was conducted while at the same time the usefulness of the method in locating the serial murderers was examined.

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

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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.

Police use of deadly force is an understudied yet deeply important issue in our society. Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in public concern over use of deadly force, particularly when that force is used against people of color. Due to the relative low frequency of deadly force incidents, little is known about when such force is used, or who it is used on. Recent studies have found a racial disparity between white and black subjects of deadly force, with black subjects significantly over represented as a proportion of the population. This study further expands our understanding of police use of deadly force, specifically the situational context of its use against white and black subjects. We use 100 random cases from the Washington Post Fatal Force data set and conduct a content analysis on this sample to identify data on multiple possible situational factors. This exploratory study found several important differences between situations involving a white or black subject of a deadly police shooting. Black subjects are on average seven years younger than white subjects. Black subjects are statistically more likely to be killed following contact initiated by an officer, such as a traffic or pedestrian stop. White subjects are more likely to be killed following contact initiated by dispatchers or courts, such as a call for service or when serving a warrant. Differences were also found related to the reasons for contact, the location of the incident, and the forms of resistance from the subject. This study provides validation to claims that police use deadly force differently between black and white subjects, and implicates police officer training and discretion in the racial disparity of use of deadly force.

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