Citation

Nagin DS, Koper CS, Lum C. Criminol. Public Policy 2020; 19(1): 9-15.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, American Society of Criminology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1745-9133.12484

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Instances of violence in the United States involving the indiscriminate slaughter of multiple victims, usually perpetrated by a lone individual with a firearm and often in a public place, are distressingly frequent. During the last decade alone, thousands have been killed or injured in such acts. Mass violence takes many forms--family massacres, terrorist attacks, shootings related to other crimes (like robbery), gang violence, and other incidents in which offenders attack targeted individuals and/or random strangers. Yet, it is the phenomenon of indiscriminate mass public violence, often directed at strangers, that has generated the most public alarm in recent years. As shown in this issue, such attacks have become increasingly common and severe, claiming ever higher numbers of victims (Duwe, 2020, this issue; Lankford & Silver, 2020, this issue). Even as the victims are mourned, the events themselves have lost their shock value...

... We describe our policy recommendations as measures for "Countering Mass Shootings in the United States" to reflect the sobering reality that there is no easy solution or quick fix for these horrific events. Mass shootings have plagued our country, and they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. There are, however, measures that we can take to limit the harm and damage caused by these violent incidents as well as to prevent some shootings from ever taking place. Most of these recommendations will require legislative action at the federal and state levels. Although we focus our recommendations on the actions of government (federal, state, or local), nongovernment entities and individuals will also have an important role in preventing mass violence--for example, media organizations might limit their reporting on mass violence offenders to discourage copycats seeking fame (Lankford & Silver, 2020) and place managers of potentially vulnerable locations can adopt target hardening and threat mitigation strategies...

Language: en