Criminal Behavior and Mass Shootings

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY AND THEORY
Criminology and Theory
Name of the Student:
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CRIMINOLOGY AND THEORY1
Metzl, J. M., & MacLeish, K. T. (2015). Mental illness, mass shootings, and the
politics of American firearms. American journal of public health, 105(2), 240-249.
This article deals with the connections between the gun violence and the
mental illness. The author has taken the help of various literatures which include the public
health, psychology, sociology and psychiatry, to address the connections. With the help of
research and reviews , the author comes to a conclusion that that the connections between the
mental illness ad gun violence is indeed a complex issue, and that there neither the guns in
the people can be isolated from the social influences. The author addresses the few critical
issues in the article which involves that the gun violence causes mental illness, that the gun
crimes can be predicted by the psychiatric diagnosis. It also looks into the issues of the US
mass shootings that suggest to be afraid of the mentally ill loners, and also the fact that
because of the complex psychiatric histories of the mass shooters, the Tucson, Aurora or
another Newtown cannot be prevented by the gun control.
Fox, J. A., & DeLateur, M. J. (2014). Mass shootings in America: moving beyond
Newtown. Homicide studies, 18(1), 125-145.
The article deals with the examination of the different myths and the different
misconceptions that are related with the mass shooters and the multiple shooting. It also
eventually points out the realities that are associated with the aversion of these kind of
murderous charges. The article has taken the incident of the mass shootings that have taken
place at the Connecticut elementary school, a movie theater in Colorado. Mass shooting at
this venue and the other places have prompted to implement a number of proposals that
would lead to a positive change. The nature of mass murder and the homicides are not valid

CRIMINOLOGY AND THEORY2
and justified. And this point have been made by the advocates for the tighter gun restrictions,
as well as for expansion of the mental health restrictions.
Swanson, J. W., McGinty, E. E., Fazel, S., & Mays, V. M. (2015). Mental illness
and reduction of gun violence and suicide: bringing epidemiologic research to
policy. Annals of epidemiology, 25(5), 366-376.
The article deals with the evidence of epidemiological evidence that deals with
the risk of the gun violence and the suicidal tendencies related to the psychiatric disorders.
The author here also draws a comparison with the media-fuelled public perceptions of the
individuals who are mentally sick. It involves the evaluation of the laws and the policies that
are designated and implemented to prevent the injuries and the effects of the guns and
firearms and the association of the mortality with the mental illness and substance use
disorders. The author in order to make an effective research in the article makes the use of
methods which involve review of the researches concerting the attitudes of the public towards
the mentally ill individuals. It also reviews the evidences of the clinical and the
epidemiological studies of the incidents of violence and mental illness. Finally with the
policy recommendations, the author comes to a conclusion that the policy making should be
based on the proper epidemiological data which concerns the risk, in order to improve the
effectiveness and the feasibility of the policy initiatives.
Malkki, L. (2014). Political elements in post-Columbine school shootings in
Europe and North America. Terrorism and political violence, 26(1), 185-210.
Since the gun shootings in the schools have been conventionally been
understood as actions of non-political base, the article decides on to the empirical
implications which suggest that not all the shootigs and the massacres are from the non
political base. They are similar to the political violence. The article aims at the analysis of 28

CRIMINOLOGY AND THEORY3
school rampages that had taken place in Europe in Canada as well as in United States. The
shooting sat the schools in these areas are analysed to prove that the shootigs did contain
political elements . the author studies four cases that had been dealing with the political
communication, 1 cases which deal with the shootings from the previous schools and 11
different cases which are isolated from these. The most prevalent question is whether the
shootings in the schools are genuinely motivated by the political reasons. The author
concludes that the violence in the schools are nothing but the sense of tradition, that are
referred to as the leaderless resistance.
Lankford, A. (2015). Mass shooters in the USA, 1966–2010: Differences between
attackers who live and die. Justice Quarterly, 32(2), 360-379.
There have been researches that have been conducted earlier, which suggest
that there are sufficient differences between the fundamental behavior as well as
psychological behavior between offenders who are guilty of committing murder and
offenders who are guilty and end up committing suicide themselves. The fact is still unknown
whether there is a similar kind of difference existing between for the murders in workplace
and school shooters. The findings specifically, shows that there are differences, between mass
shooters, who die as a result of the attacks and the shooters who still exist. The common
patterns shows that the attacks, the offenders, the victims they kill, might have significant
relationships or even major implications for scholars and security officials alike.
Wallace, L. N. (2015). Responding to violence with guns: Mass shootings and gun
acquisition. The Social Science Journal, 52(2), 156-167.
The article deals with the examination of the impacts of the acquisition of
guns and in the national scenario as well as regionally. It also studies the timing specific
patters to the acquisition of the guns as well as the events of mass violence that follows.

CRIMINOLOGY AND THEORY4
There have been a researches which observe that there is a steady development in the amount
of gun purchases as well as an increase of the mass shootings. The mass shootings and the
violence contribute to the fear of victimization with the exposure of media.

CRIMINOLOGY AND THEORY5
Introduction:
 Overview of the problem
Mass shootings in the literal term means mass killing or murder of a great number of
people. The people fall a victim to the violence of firearms and guns. This type of homicide
and the issue of gun violence is getting famous and appears frequently on the media. The
number of mass shootings in United States have become a great issue. Whether it is an
educational institution such as college, school or church and concerts, gun violence and
shootings are occurring on a regular basis. The primary research question that this report
sought to answer is that in the present generation of video games and videos on the internet,
whether the gun violence or the mass shooting is a learned behaviour. Taking the help of
Albert Bandura who had theorized about the social behaviours of the people, and the
environment that affects the behaviour of the mass shooters, it can be said that the social
learning theory imply that the shooters learn this violent behaviour from them. The
magnitude of the problem suggests that there needs to be an effective solution for the gun
violence behaviour and the solution needs a pre-emptive solution, apart from the mere gun
control policies or the simple reactionary measures. This study examines the environment
where the children are raised and the whether it is the childhood experiences are responsible
for this criminal behaviour. In the generation of constant access to video games, it must be
the negative experiences of the childhood experiences of exposure to violence or exposure to
guns in the homes, which encourage the people to take up guns. If the children are exposed to
such an environment, which involves the exposure to gun violence in media or video game,
they would definitely mimic the same behaviour that they see and experience. According to
the social learning theory, the people learn the specific behaviours from the people based on
their direct experience or what they observe and encounter. Thus this kind of imitation is