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Saturday, September 27, 2014

Criminal Justice Quote: Mass Murder on the Rise

     The number of U.S. shootings in which a gunman wounds or kills multiple people has increased dramatically in recent years, with the majority of attacks in the last decade occurring at a business or a school, according to an FBI report released on September 24, 2014. The study focused on 160 "active shooting incidents" between 2000 and 2013. Those are typically defined as cases in which a gunman in an attack shoots or attempts to shoot people in a populated area.

     The goal of the report, which excluded shootings that are gang and drug related, was to compile accurate data about the attacks and to help local police prepare for or respond to similar killings in the future…

     According to the report, an average of six shooting incidents occurred in the first seven years that were studied. That average rose to more than 16 per year in the last seven years of the study. That period included the 2012 shootings at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, as well as last year's massacre at the Washington Navy Yard in which a gunman killed 12 people before dying in a police shootout.

     The majority of the shootings occurred either at a business or a school, university or other education facility, according to the study…A total of more than 1,000 people were either killed or wounded in the shootings. In about one-quarter of the cases, the shooter committed suicide before the police arrived. The gunman acted alone in all but two of the cases. The shooters were female in six of the incidents…

     "The copycat phenomenon is real," said Andre Simons of the FBI's Behavioral Unit. "As more and more notable tragic events occur, we think we're seeing more compromised, marginalized individuals who are seeking inspiration from those past attacks."

"U.S. Mass Shootings on the Rise, FBI Warns in Call for More Police Training," Associated Press, September 25, 2014 

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