Most school shooters are current or former students. Most are suicidal. And most share their plans in advance. These are among the key findings of The Violence Project, a research effort examining 50 years of mass shootings in the U.S. The project’s insights have been cited widely in news stories in the wake of recent mass shootings in Dayton … [Read more...]
Can Teachers Be Trained to Prevent Future School Shootings? Researchers Say Yes
Why Isn’t There Already An Algorithm to Predict School Shooters?
The Violence Project's data was featured in an article by Ira Israel about how we identify mass shooters before they start shooting. Israel highlighted the variables our database features, facts about school shooters from Dr. Jillian Peterson's Ted Talk, and the commonality of mass shooters to experience childhood trauma. "Doctors Peterson and … [Read more...]
How suicide prevention may help stop mass killers before they start shooting
A potential predictor of mass shootings is suicidality. Dr. Jillian Peterson shared that her latest analysis showed that 80 percent of the perpetrators were suicidal before the shooting, which she says it is key to understanding their actions. “In every case, this was intended to be their final act. They are murders, but they are murder-suicides. … [Read more...]
The making of a mass shooter: What contributes to a killer opening fire on strangers?
The New Zealand Herald examined findings from The Violence Project's research into potential warning signs of mass shootings. They quote Drs. Peterson and Densley's op-ed in the Los Angeles Times discussing the four common traits between mass shooters. Read their coverage of our findings here. Source: New Zealand Herald Author: Shannon … [Read more...]
Trying to understand and prevent mass shootings
Whenever there’s a mass shooting, like the three last week, we ask ourselves two questions: Why? And, how can we keep it from happening again? The Violence Project, a nonpartisan think tank, strives to answer those questions. Under a grant from the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Violence … [Read more...]