Building a Profile
What are the benefits and drawbacks / consequences of attempting to profile mass / school shooters?
When profiling a mass shooter, authorities obtain a lot of helpful information, but it also comes with consequences. There are many similarities between the characteristics of mass shooters, so a profile seems like an obvious method to determine which individuals exhibit those characteristics in order to detain the threat before any violence. However, this only works as a general guide. And that general guide can be applied to a lot of non-violent people. For example, someone who may be depressed or socially isolated, as many mass shooters are, could be completely harmless and investigated for no reason. Which takes time away from identifying the real threats. And, someone who is violent may be ruled out if they do not exhibit the same characteristics as the profile. I still think that despite these consequences a profile is a helpful tool in identifying any future mass shooters. These possible consequences should just always be taken into consideration when using a profile. Meaning they should be pretty lenient with the information from the profile, instead of strictly following it. There needs to be some sort of guidelines to help authorities find these individuals, and I think profiles provide that.
Is it even possible to create such a profile? Why or why not?
I believe that it is possible to build a profile on mass shooters. All of the warning signs that we discussed in this class so far can be included in the profile, so that authorities are also aware of the type of person they should be looking for. Again though, these profiles should be taken with a grain of salt. Similar characteristics were discovered when comparing multiple studies, including depression, experiencing a loss of triggering event, and a fascination with violence and weapons. Schildkraut & Muschert (2019) All of these characteristics could be included in an accurate profile on mass shooters. For school shooters, an even more specific profile can be built because the possible threats are usually always tied to the school in some way. Which is why, even if it is not used religiously, a profile for a mass shooter can be created, and can be helpful.
References:
Schildkraut, J., & Muschert, G. W. (2019). Columbine, 20 years later and beyond: Lessons from tragedy. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
With profiling a mass shooter it might be difficult if you don't know the warning signs before hand, as you had stated. This is where I would think threat assessment would be helpful in providing information to help in a creation of a mass shooter profile. Mass shooters, as with anyone that is about to commit a crime, can go "off script" or be unpredictable which would be difficult in the creation of a profile.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a profile is useful but not as a way to base the current case off the last. It is there as a guild, like you said, to give the officers investigating it a path to follow in the beginning to better understand what they are about to deal with. I like how you added in mental health illnesses when talking about people who are profiled. It could be that someone who has not intentions of committing an attack be investigated because they fit the profile due to their mental illness. Even though there have been many attackers who suffered from mental illness, this does not mean that because someone is suffering from depression of anti-social behavior, they are going to become a mass shooter. Great post!
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