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Highlights

There is no doubt that everyday criminality is far more serious in terms of injuries and fatalities than mass shootings.

There seem to be endless similarities between mass shooters and everyday violent offenders. The unanswered question is why so many “limit” their acts of aggression to specific and known targets and why others go into a high-rise hotel and shoot unknown participants at a music festival.

Author

Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.

Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of award-winning public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet. Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of criminology and public affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Aspiring drummer.

Introduction

On Saturday, a shooting in El, Paso, Texas, killed 20 people and injured 26 more. On Sunday, a shooting in Dayton, Ohio, killed at least 10 and injured 26 more. The weekend before, a shooting in Gilroy, California, killed four and wounded 13 others, while yet another shooting in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, killed six and injured two.

That doesn’t even account for the average 100-plus gun deaths that aren’t part of mass shootings but happen every day in the US, VOX.

There are 14,500 firearm-related homicides in the US each year, CDC.

There seem to be endless similarities between mass shooters and everyday violent offenders. The unanswered question is why so many “limit” their acts of aggression to specific targets and why others go into a high-rise hotel and shoot participants at a music festival.

I try to address similarities in this article comparing an LA Times article to everyday offenders.

LA Times And Everyday Offenders

From The Los Angeles Times and The Violence Project (direct quotes): For two years, we’ve been studying the life histories of mass shooters in the United States for a project funded by the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. We’ve built a database dating back to 1966 of every mass shooter who shot and killed four or more people in a public place, and every shooting incident at schools, workplaces, and places of worship since 1999. We’ve interviewed incarcerated perpetrators and their families, shooting survivors and first responders. We’ve read media and social media, manifestos, suicide notes, trial transcripts and medical records, LA Times.

First, the vast majority of mass shooters in our study experienced early childhood trauma and exposure to violence at a young age. The nature of their exposure included parental suicide, physical or sexual abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and/or severe bullying. The trauma was often a precursor to mental health concerns, including depression, anxiety, thought disorders or suicidality.

Everyday Offenders: The vast majority of our discussions about crime, mass shootings, police encounters that go wrong, treatment failures and recidivism may be explained by the fact that offenders we encounter can be very troubled people with brain injuries, PTSD, and mental health issues who self-medicate through drugs and alcohol. The vast majority report histories of child abuse and neglect.

There is a ton of dysfunctional decision making among offenders resulting in police shootings, criminal activity, and high recidivism, Crime in America.

I interviewed hundreds of offenders who successfully transitioned from a criminal to a law-abiding life. Asked what separated them from those who fail, they told me that it was their personal conviction to get out of crime. They also remarked that many were not ready for change. When asked what that meant, they often said that their peers were fighting demons they could not control. Data about traumatic brain injuries helps explain why so many offenders don’t do well. Add mental health, PTSD and substance abuse concerns, it collectively suggests that there are reasons for offender dysfunction. New studies regarding those treated for criminal insanity and police crisis intervention teams are not encouraging. Neither is the data on programs to assist offenders leaving prison or on probation. Personal dysfunction has been examined for decades as to why criminal offenders constantly make bad decisions. Most offenders recidivate; they return to the criminal justice system in massive numbers, Crime in America. Even when provided with programs to address dysfunctional lifestyles, the vast majority do not do well, Crime in America.

From The Los Angeles Times: Second, practically every mass shooter we studied had reached an identifiable crisis point in the weeks or months leading up to the shooting. They often had become angry and despondent because of a specific grievance. For workplace shooters, a change in job status was frequently the trigger. For shooters in other contexts, relationship rejection or loss often played a role. Such crises were, in many cases, communicated to others through a marked change in behavior, an expression of suicidal thoughts or plans, or specific threats of violence.

Everyday Offenders: The same applies to everyday violent criminals but without the event becoming a mass shooting. My interviews with offenders told me of numerous times where they experiencd stressors in life that resulted in violence directed principally at people they knew or was related to domestic violence

From The Los Angeles Times: Third, most of the shooters had studied the actions of other shooters and sought validation for their motives. People in crisis have always existed. But in the age of 24-hour rolling news and social media, there are scripts to follow that promise notoriety in death. Societal fear and fascination with mass shootings partly drives the motivation to commit them. Hence, as we have seen in the last week, mass shootings tend to come in clusters. They are socially contagious. Perpetrators study other perpetrators and model their acts after previous shootings. Many are radicalized online in their search for validation from others that their will to murder is justified.

Everyday Offenders: Violence, in general, comes in clusters. For example, shootings directed towards opposing gangs or groups happens frequently during the summer months after similar shootings which is the basis for a public health approach as to identifying shooters and victims and interventions to stop further violence. Validation comes from peers, often through taunts between groups via social media.

I interviewed over a hundred young offenders being adjudicated for homicide (before a crime summit in Maryland) who plainly told me that they expect to die before the age of thirty, but that violence was something necessary and in their best interest. Peers validated that perspective.

From The Los Angeles Times: Forth, the shooters all had the means to carry out their plans. Once someone decides life is no longer worth living and that murdering others would be a proper revenge, only means and opportunity stand in the way of another mass shooting. Is an appropriate shooting site accessible? Can the would-be shooter obtain firearms? In 80% of school shootings, perpetrators got their weapons from family members, according to our data. Workplace shooters tended to use handguns they legally owned. Other public shooters were more likely to acquire them illegally.

Everyday Offenders: Guns are easily available through the underground market.

Firearm offenders are dangerous. Per the US Sentencing Commission firearm offenders recidivate more, recidivate quickly, and do so much later in life. In St. Louis, The number of homicides per robbery or assault has risen by more than 50 percent over the past eight years.

Acquiring or using a firearm seems to be associated with a dedicated violent lifestyle. There are endless stories of offenders finding it easy to get guns in their neighborhoods or through associates, but many choose not to carry. For example, most robberies do not involve firearms; thirty-one percent in a survey stated that they used a firearm during a robbery, Bureau of Justice Statistics, but other federal sources put the figure at 41 percent, National Institute of Justice.

Offenders understand that when they carry a firearm, they are telling all that crime and violence is not situational. They are declaring their willingness to create massive injury and possibly death, Crime in America.

Mental Health Does Not Mean Dangerous

We need to understand that mental illness does not mean criminality or dangerousness; the great majority of those with mental illness pose little to no risk. But concurrently, forms of depression, anxiety, despair, mental illness, brain damage, PTSD and self-medication through drugs and alcohol, is part of the makeup of most in the justice system.

Add Drugs

Data indicates that most offenders at the time of arrest were under the influence of drugs or alcohol or both. Anywhere from 56 percent (Charlotte) to 82 percent (Chicago) of arrestees across sites tested positive for the presence of some substance at the time of the arrest. In 9 out of the 10 sites in 2009, 60 percent or more of arrestees tested positive, see ADAM and Drug Use at Arrest.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that everyday criminality is far more serious in terms of injuries and fatalities than mass shootings. As stated, the unanswered question is why some choose specific targets rather than a mass of people, mostly strangers. Most everyday violent crime is directed towards people known to the offender.

To some, mass shootings are an obvious connection with religion, race or ethnic prejudice, and undoubtedly many fall into that category.

But with mental illness, substance abuse, access to firearms and significant stressors in life being a constant finding for all violent offenders, what came first for mass shooters, a willingness to validate their troubled lives through violence and notoriety, or hate towards groups?

The premise of mass shooters is to alter the sad trajectory of their life, shock and be remembered. Their equipment and dress on the day of the shooting reflects their desire to scare and create panic.

We may be looking for evidence of hate crimes when the real nexus may be something far more subtle, NBC.

New York Times: The motivations of men who commit mass shootings are often muddled, but one thread that connects many of them is a history of hating women, assaulting wives, girlfriends and female family members, or sharing misogynistic views online, the New York Times reports.

I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t look for evidence of hate crimes, but there are a wide variety of behaviors like domestic violence or hostility towards females or cruelty towards animals or age of onset for violence coupled with a fascination with substance abuse and firearms that should be ringing alarm bells for families, friends or schools.

Hate towards groups may be calculated to shock and ensure the national publicity the shooter seeks.

Sources

The New York Times quote was courtesy of The Crime Report.

Contact

Contact us at leonardsipes@gmail.com.

My book: A “Best Business Book,” Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization available at Amazon

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