Characteristics of Mass Murders
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From Spring 2014 Course - Soc 1194: Muliticide at Columbus State Community College. This lecture is part of a larger course investigating the causes and characteristics of multiple homicide offenders in the U.S.
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Characteristics of Mass Murders
- 3. Mass Murderer Characteristics • Male (93.8%) • White (61.7%) • Over 30 (40.3%) 49.5 72.4 37.3 89.5 45.3 28 93.8 61.7 35 % MALE % WHITE AVERAGE AGE General Population Ordinary Homicide Mass Murder
- 4. Mass Murder Characteristics Hickey (2009) They give little thought or concern to inevitable capture or death They commit crime in public places Their motive is retaliatory; based on rejection, failure, or loss of autonomy The offense is an effort to regain a degree of control over their lives
- 5. Mass Murderer Characteristics Defining characteristics On the surface, mass murderers appear ordinary/mundane. A deeper look tends to show the following: • Experienced a lifetime of frustration, humiliation, and failure • Often - unemployed • Often – suffered a recent loss (can seem trivial) • Externalization of blame
- 6. Mass Murderer Characteristics Defining characteristics: • Often described as “oozing with anger” • Warrior Mentality • Fascination with guns/weapons/violence • Lives characterized by violence, real & fictional
- 7. Mass Murderer Characteristics Defining Characteristics: • History of mental illness • Commonly, • Depression • Antisocial PD • Borderline PD • Narcissistic PD • Intermittent explosive disorder • Conduct disorder • Paranoid views/symptoms/tendencies • History of substance abuse • Social isolation
- 8. Mass Murderer Characteristics Murder is Centered Around Revenge Fantasies • Plan, justify, and perfect their revenge • Imagine a response • Psychological rehearsal • Long term • Calculated • Fantasy world is their primary place of existence • Use media (video, blogs, journals) to record plans • Gives a sense of power/control
- 11. Predisposing Factors • Unstable home life • Parental absence/death • Harsh physical punishment • Physical/sexual abuse • Alcoholic/drug addicted caregiver • Creates a long histories of frustration, humiliation, and repeated failures • Responsible for • Negative self image (inadequacy, self-doubt, worthlessness) • Depression • Lack of coping ability • Externalization of blame • Compensates by – espousing arrogance, entitlement, superiority
- 12. Predisposing Factors • When the above are absent, there likely would be some form of biological causation: • Head trauma • Tumors • Neurological Disorders
- 13. Precipitating Factors Short term acute triggers • Sudden loss or threat of loss • Job • Relationship • Financial • Humiliation • Bullying • Some kind of “final straw” Dr. Amy Bishop Ronald Gene Simmons
- 14. Facilitating Factors • Social isolation • Loner • Brain pathology • Psychiatric illness • Grandiose & obsessional traits • Sense of entitlement
- 15. Cumulative Strain Theory Fox & Madfis (2009) Stage One Chronic Strain • Bullying • Family Problems • Workplace Failures • Financial Difficulties • Chronic Rejection Stage Two Uncontrolled Strain • Lack of social support • Deviant peer groups • Lack of conventional bonds Stage Three Acute Strain • Recent catastrophic loss • Humiliation • Rejection • “last straw” Stage Four: The Planning Stage • Involved, sometimes lengthy planning • Days – years • “Rational Immorality” • Gendered Performance Stage Five: The Massacre • Firearm Access • Firearm Proficiency • Access to crowds • Lack of guardianship
Editor's Notes
- Three things to note: Mass murder rate mirrors the overall homicide rate Mass murder (and homicide) increases during economic downturns Remember lead poisoning chart?
- Data from Hickey – more recent than Madfis article 89.5% of ordinary homicide offenders are male 45.3% ordinary homicide offenders are white (78% of the population is white) It takes years to develop the deep sense of frustration that is distinctive in mass murders. Antisocial, narcissism, hostility, oversensitive, rigid, obsessional, self righteous, grandiose, sense of entitlement, impulsivity Are often unemployed Are sometimes female – although rare Are not usually Satanists or racists Are most often white males (not always – Crawford is black, Cho Seung-Hui was Korean) Sometimes have college degrees or some college Article for today says non-Hispanic whites are 63.7% of the population and 69.9% of mass murderers. % above is census 2010 identified as white alone. Non Hispanic white alone is 34% of population.
- Mass murders pay little attention to escape or capture. Some are killed at the incident, others commit suicide. Most leave ample evidence at the scene.
- Often small incident sparks the murderous rampage – an insult or trivial provocation. Characteristics of Mass Murderers: Give pre attack warning signals (Klebold & Harris posted on the internet) Often do not attempt escape Half commit suicide or are killed by others (depends on type – domestic usually commit suicide, workplace killers don’t) Most have a death wish Externalizes blame – nothing is ever their fault. Holds others accountable. Blames everyone else for their failures.
- Warrior mentality – fascination with weapons and war regalia. Possess an arsenal of guns. Military training or service. Normalizes killing. Often have military experience Often carry weapons around illegally Their lives usually have an overwhelming amount of violence in them, both real and fictional
- Often have serious mental health issues (Hoffman lined his entire house with bags full of tree leaves, Laughtner has symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia) (All killers of 10 or more victims had paranoid symptoms) (3 – 10 victims and the predominant characteristic is depression) Are not usually motivated by exposure to videos, movies, or television – these aren’t copy cat killings, Are not using alcohol or other drugs at the time of the attacks (although It’s not usual for them to have a history of drug abuse) Loners – lack external social controls – rejected by peers, bullied, teased, humiliated at school. Little attachment to parents, have friends who get in trouble. “The more specific and focused the element of revenge, the more likely that an outburst is planed and methodical rather than spontaneous and random” (Fox & Levin, 1998, p.438). i
- Become absorbed in producing videos of themselves, writing a blog or a manifesto of their life’s revenge, The killer surrounds himself with all the tools that will aid in an incessant replay of his fantasies. Fantasies can last for months while the crime is planned out. The mass killer’s journaling, planning or blogging behavior is similar to the trophy accumulation behavior engaged in by many serial killers. For serial killers, the souvenir, from the actual killing site or victim, acts as a material connection to their crimes and allows the killer to re-live the crime, re-experiencing the “high” of killing and reinforcing further killing. For mass killers, who typically carry out a one-time massacre, the creation of a concrete personal record permits rehearsing and imagining the “high” of killing prior to the commission of any act. Media – used to record and vent their frustrations, project failings onto others, justify their crime. Usually, not posted publically until after the massacre. Not intended as a plea for help. Intended to shock people and secure infamy/fame post massacre.
- In addition to the sociological theories we’ve already talked about (labeling, social bond theory, feminist theory) These theories specifically apply to mass murderers
- having an unstable home life, experiencing the death of one or both parents, being subject to harsh physical punishment, enduring physical or sexual abuse, having a caregiver who is severely alcoholic or drug-addicted, or experiencing other negative events It must be stated that “millions of U.S. citizens experience one or more of these” traumatic events as children or young adults and never become criminals or murderers (Hickey, 2010, p. 107). “It is the combined effects of various traumatizations” over extended time periods that is “greater than any single” or multiple traumas suffered acutely (Hickey, 2010, p. 108). Trauma then becomes cyclical, continuously feeding on itself, worsening over time. The individual is broken, experiencing a complete inability to connect with others and suffering total disillusionment and hopelessness; he then searches via deviant means to feed his damaged psyche.
- Malcolm Baker – killed 6, including his son in Australia. Ray Martin DeFord – arsonist who killed 8 people when he was 11 years old. At 18 months, father hit him over the head because he wouldn’t stop crying – this caused brain damage. Tommy Zethraues – killed 4 at a nightclub in Sweden – PET scan showed frontal lobe damage
- Job - Men are likely to define themselves in terms of their occupational role. A lost of a job can be devastating. Often, they’ve gone from job to job never achieving promotion, raises, or recognition that they feel entitled to. Relationship – common trigger for familicide – mostly male HoH Humiliation – reprimand from boss In 2040, 44 year old Biology Professor Amy Bishop, a Harvard educated woman brought a gun to a faculty meeting and started shooting her colleagues. Killed 3 and wounded 3. She had been denied tenure and was starting her final semester at U of Alabama, Huntsville. She had shot her brother during an argument when she was 21. It was originally ruled an accidental shooting, but after this incident, the case was re-examined and she was charged with his murder. There was also 1993 pipe bomb incident with her lab supervisor that she was questioned about but not charged. Married mother of 4 children. Did not have a good reputation at Harvard – poor work, poor instructor, unpopular with students. Serving life in Alabama. Has attacked other inmates and guards in prison. Possibly suffers from paranoid schizophrenia Ronald Gene Simmons – in 1987, killed 14 family members and 2 others (1 had rejected his advances) because ex wife and daughter (with whom he sexually abused) rejected him. 8 children, 1 daughter/grandaughter, 2 grandsons, wife, son in law and daughter in law. Executed in 1990.
- Stage two – loners or fringe group – Cho – quiet, reserved, struggling to fit in, difficult to get to know, in a world of his own, dramatically uncommunicative. Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold spent more than a year planning Columbine. Mass murder is not an impulsive or spontaneous act. Notion of snapping is wrong. It is rational – very few have been psychotic or seriously mentally ill. Gendered performance of masculinity – deliberate plan designed to control the image others have of the killer as a powerful and masculine individual in the socially approved manner for men, with violence. Results from emasculation. Example, Cho at Virginia Tech – described as meek and quiet. Sent in video to NBC to try to portray himself as strong, violent, tough.