The Violence Project's Jillian Peterson sat down with Jana Shortal to discuss her research into mass shooters. As opposed to looking at mass shootings individually, Peterson and a team of students are looking at more than 25 years of mass shootings to compile a list of 130 mass shooters and identify commonalities. "When we try to prevent crime, … [Read more...]
Hamline team researches the ‘why’ behind mass shootings
How common are mass shootings?
"The massacre in Las Vegas is being called the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. To some, it seems like these tragedies happen more often. But do they?" The Violence Project's Jillian Peterson spoke with Heather Brown about the different ways to define mass shootings and how those definitions impact how common they are. Read the … [Read more...]
Trying to make sense of mass shootings
Dr. Jill Peterson sat down with Jana Shortal to discuss how to process mass shootings. "I think as we get hit with more of these events, they're happening over and over and over again, it's human. You have to let the shock wear off. It's not going to hit you in the same way. We learn sort of psychologically how to process this and so it just … [Read more...]
How social media sends extremism into overdrive
The Violence Project's Jillian Peterson and James Densley wrote an article for CNN about how social media enables extremism. They examine how extreme groups coalesce and organize through social media, and what we can do to prevent it. "Let's stop being the audience the extremists want. If we walk out of the show, the extremists might be forced … [Read more...]
Verdict in police shooting of Philando Castile: The fear defense should have us all afraid
Why? Because it's emotional, not a rational assessment of danger. And police officers are trained to be particularly susceptible. Drs. James Densley and Jillian Peterson argue that because the fear defense is an expression of emotion rather than logic, the law needs to be changed. Bulletproof facts struggle to win debates or sway opinions on … [Read more...]