Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA.
Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ, USA.
Int Rev Psychiatry. 2021 Nov;33(7):638-652. doi: 10.1080/09540261.2021.1932440. Epub 2021 Jul 3.
Although it is important to know public mass shooters have in common, it is also helpful to understand different variables were present on their pathways to violence. This study explored the timing of key life events for the deadliest public mass shooters in the United States since Columbine ( = 14). Using data from official reports and supplementary sources, we found perpetrators' mental health contacts often began more than a decade before their mass shootings, and often ended more than a year before their attacks. Mental illness was typically a constant in their lives, not something that automatically caused them to attack. While treatment may help prevent some mass shootings, mental health professionals have limited influence over patients they have not recently seen. In turn, perpetrators' work and school problems also typically began long before their mass shootings, but these issues continued closer to their attacks. Employers and educators may therefore have an opportunity to intervene later in the process. Firearms acquisition often occurred in the final stages, after perpetrators were already interested in mass murder. Red flag laws and ERPOs which prohibit sales to explicitly dangerous individuals may therefore help reduce the prevalence of these attacks.
虽然了解公共大规模枪击者的共同点很重要，但了解他们走向暴力的不同变量也很有帮助。本研究探讨了自哥伦拜恩以来美国最致命的公共大规模枪击事件（n=14）中凶手关键生活事件的时间。通过官方报告和补充来源的数据，我们发现犯罪者的心理健康接触通常在他们的大规模枪击事件发生前十年以上开始，并且通常在袭击发生前一年多结束。精神疾病通常是他们生活中的一个常数，而不是自动导致他们攻击的原因。虽然治疗可能有助于预防一些大规模枪击事件，但心理健康专业人员对他们最近没有见过的患者的影响有限。反过来，犯罪者的工作和学校问题也通常在他们的大规模枪击事件之前很久就开始了，但这些问题在接近他们的袭击时仍在继续。因此，雇主和教育工作者可能有机会在后期介入。枪支的获取通常发生在最后阶段，即在犯罪者已经对大规模谋杀感兴趣之后。因此，禁止向明确危险个人销售的红旗法和 ERPO 可能有助于减少这些袭击的发生。
