MCJ 6985 Emory University Violent Crimes and Victimization Survey Discussion *PLEASE SEE ATTACHMENT AS A REFERENCE*Drafting the Background SectionFor this

MCJ 6985 Emory University Violent Crimes and Victimization Survey Discussion *PLEASE SEE ATTACHMENT AS A REFERENCE*Drafting the Background SectionFor this week’s discussion, you will present a draft of the background section of your project. This section will build upon the introduction and explain in detail the problem that you are studying. In our example of postrelease employment, the background section would include data that define the problem: recidivism, unemployment among parolees, and perhaps some input from actual parole officers about the difficulties faced by parolees and the effects of those difficulties. 1
Introduction to Project
Gabrielle Earle
South University
MCJ6985 Applied Professional Project
Professor Sever
July 10, 2020
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Introduction to Project
On October 1, 2017, 64-year old Stephen Paddock opened gunfire on a multitude of
22,000 revelers, at the Mandala Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, killing 58 and leaving 700
with injuries. On August 3, 2019, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius opened fire at El Paso Walmart,
Texas, killing 22 people and injuring 26 (CNN, 2020). The two incidents exemplify the gravity
of the threats to public safety that society is grappling with. Violent crimes, such as the Mandala
Bay Resort and Casino and El Paso shootings, robbery, assault, and rape create panic in society.
Any society desires to be crime-free and there is a collective role in working toward this ideal
goal. However, studies show a rise in violent crimes, especially murder, in several cities across
the country. For instance, one report shows that 25 cities reported an increase in murders by
16.1% in July 2020 compared to the same period in the previous year (Asher & Horwitz, 2020).
Reports by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the FBI also show a rise in the violent crimes in
the country albeit with occasional fluctuations (Kast & Brown, 2020). These findings point
towards the monumental task that society has as far as reducing crime is concerned. If the society
is to realize reduced levels of violent crimes, focus must move beyond arrest and incarceration of
perpetrators through the retributive criminal justice system. There is a need for more rigorous
measures at the community level that will help to predict those who are at the risk of committing
violent crimes and institute preventive and mitigation measures.
Violent crimes in the country, especially murder, cannot be attributed to a single factor.
According to the current literature and criminology theories, crime is an outcome of interplay
between diverse contextual and personal factors. The environment of upbringing, for example, a
neighborhood where crime rate is high and socioeconomic disparities are deemed as some of the
salient causes of crime in any society. From a theoretical perspective, the social disorganization
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theory views crime as an inevitable outcome of breakdown in social and economic structures.
According to this theory, crime is high in areas characterized by economic deprivation, high rates
of population turnover, weak conventional institutions of social control, and racial heterogeneity.
Nonetheless, when violent crimes are narrowed to their most serious forms, such as murder,
several studies have cited psychosocial factors such as schizophrenia, depression, trauma,
extreme anger, suicidal ideation, bullying experiences, racist/extremist ideologies as major
causes. Nonetheless, there is no consensus as to the actual role played by psychosocial factors in
the occurrence of violent crimes. For example, there are some studies, such as by Bonano and
Levenson (2014) that have found that mass shooters come from diverse family situations, from
intact families to broken families and foster homes. Some shooters are socially isolated, but some
are quite sociable. Similarly, while some studies have argued that mental illness is the most
common factor in the majority of shooters, some studies and experts such as Knoll and Annas
(2016) argue that the overall contribution of individuals with serious mental illnesses to mass
shootings or any other violent crime is very small, at 1-3%.
The research question that this study seeks to investigate is, “Do psychosocial factors
aggravate the risk of an individual committing a violent crime?” The major source of data will
come from the FBI’s documentation of active shooting incidents that have occurred in the
country in the last 19 years; from 2000 to 2019. Whereas violent crime is a term that denotes a
wide spectrum of crimes, the study is based on the premise that findings from the analysis of data
on one of the most serious violent crimes, active shooting, will provide insights that can
reasonably be extrapolated to other equally serious crimes in regard to their correlation with
psychosocial factors. Active shooting is a broad term used by the FBI to refer to any event where
“an individual (s) is actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area”
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(FBI, 2016). The FBI incident data will be supplemented by data from credible news media,
court cases, and databases by organizations such as Mother Jones that maintain data on gun
violence. The study is expected to reveal a significant relationship between some, but not all,
psychosocial factors, and an individual’s risk to commit a violent crime. The rationale for
expecting such a finding is that the study is projected to yield results that are close to those from
studies that have employed similar methodologies albeit using data from different durations.
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References
Asher, J., & Horwitz, B. (2020). It’s been ‘such a weird year’ that’s also reflected in crime
statistics. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/upshot/murdersrising-crime-coronavirus.html
Bonanno, C., & Levenson, R. (2014). School shooters: History, current theoretical and empirical
findings, and strategies for prevention. SAGE Open, 4(1), 2-10.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014525425
CNN. (2020). Mass shootings in the US fast facts. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/19/us/massshootings-fast-facts/index.html
FBI. (2016). Active shooter resources. Federal Bureau of
Investigation. https://www.fbi.gov/about/partnerships/office-of-partnerengagement/active-shooter-resources
Kaste, M., & Brown, T. (2019). There’s a continued uptick in violent crime, according to federal
survey. NPR.org. https://www.npr.org/2019/09/11/759699189/theres-a-continued-uptickin-violent-crime-according-to-federal-data
Knoll, J., & Annas, G. (2016). Mass shootings and mental illness. American Psychiatric
Association Publishing.
https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.5555/appi.books.9781615371099
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