The Different Components of Active Shooter Incidents: Examining the Co-Occurrence of Offender and Incident Characteristics
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects CUNY Graduate Center 2-2021 The Different Components of Active Shooter Incidents: Examining the Co-occurrence of Offender and Incident Characteristics Jeffery R. Osborne The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/4168 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Running head: ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS THE DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS: EXAMINING THE CO-OCCURRENCE OF OFFENDER & INCIDENT CHARACTERISTICS by JEFFERY R. OSBORNE A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2021 ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS ii © 2021 JEFFERY R. OSBORNE All Rights Reserved ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS iii The Different Components of Active Shooter Incidents: Examining the Co-occurrence of Offender & Incident Characteristics by Jeffery R. Osborne This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Criminal Justice in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ___________________ ____________________________________ Date C. Gabrielle Salfati Chair of Examining Committee ___________________ ____________________________________ Date Valli Rajah Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Maria R, Haberfeld Michael M. Maxfield Steven M, Gorelick John P. Jarvis THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS iv ABSTRACT The Different Components of Active Shooter Incidents: Examining the Co-occurrence of Offender & Incident Characteristics by Jeffery R. Osborne Advisor: C. Gabrielle Salfati The present dissertation examined 198 United States single-offender active shooter incidents and thematically differentiated cases based on 1) offender backgrounds, 2) precipitating stressors, 3) offender routine activity, 4) crime scene location, and 5) incident characteristics. Doing so contributed to the increasing number of studies that have stressed the importance of creating empirically-based models to better understand active shooter incidents and the offenders who are responsible. To structure this investigation into active shooter incidents, concepts within Environmental Criminology and Crime Analysis were paired with analytical methodologies seen in Offender Profiling and Investigative Psychology research. The findings illustrated that offenders could be reliability classified based on differences in their characteristics and behavior. Moreover, by focusing on thematic differences between cases, it was possible to assess how individual variables were related to one another. This provided a method of better understanding the underlying nature of active shooter incidents at a conceptual level. However, while thematic differences between cases were identified when addressing individual aspects of these incidents (e.g., precipitating stressor or location selection), a clear connection across incident components was difficult to establish. That is, a direct relationship was not identified between active shooter offenders and their crime scene actions. The study therefore highlighted the complex relationship between offender backgrounds, their subsequent criminal behavior, and the role of situational factors outside of their control. ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dissertations are challenging. I would like to acknowledge and thank the people who helped me with this project, all the way from planning to finally defending. This section must start with my dissertation chair. I would first like to thank Dr. Salfati for her mentorship. She has taught me how to become both a researcher and teacher, and helped give me the motivation to pursue an academic career. I am forever grateful for the relationship that we have developed. My committee members deserve attention as well. The courses I took with Dr. Maxfield that were essential to my professional development. Additionally, serving as a teaching assistant for Dr. Haberfeld provided important insight into teaching criminal justice courses. I have enjoyed getting to know Dr. Jarvis and his practitioner perspective has been instrumental. Lastly, Dr. Gorelick’s enthusiasm for research is infectious, and I have appreciated his support. My fellow doctoral IPRU lab members – Kim, Teresa, & Marina – were a great resource as we all worked on finishing our degrees and starting careers. I would also like to thank Emily, Jay, Chelsea, and Laura for their help with data collection. This dissertation was inspired by a smaller study that Joel and I published, so I would like to acknowledge him as well. Thank you to Dara for the phone debriefings and Jake for reading chapters. I thank my family for being supportive, while trying to avoid asking for updates too often. Strangers also merit recognition. While working on the dissertation I often listened to Baroness, Bayside, Deafheaven, Deftones, The Hold Steady/Craig Finn, The Menzingers, Jeff Rosenstock, Run the Jewels, Russian Circles, and the first four Metallica albums. Lastly, I want it to be known that my amazing wife is, well, amazing. I whole-heartedly thank Amanda for her continued support as I completed this dissertation. She has been by my side throughout this process and I would not have completed my doctoral work without her. ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS vi CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ v CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................... vi TABLES ........................................................................................................................................ xi FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION TO THE DISSERTATION ................................................ 1 Introduction to the Topic ............................................................................................................. 1 Introduction to the Structure ....................................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER TWO. WHAT ARE ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS? OPERATIONALIZATION & DATASET CREATION ................................................................ 8 Defining Active Shooter Incidents .............................................................................................. 8 Active Shooter Incidents & Mass Homicide ............................................................................. 10 Refined Operationalization ....................................................................................................... 13 Dissertation Dataset................................................................................................................... 14 Data Collection .......................................................................................................................... 16 Coding Dictionary ................................................................................................................. 16 Reliability. ............................................................................................................................. 17 Data Limitations. ................................................................................................................... 19 Dataset Description ................................................................................................................... 21 Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 24 CHAPTER THREE. WHO ARE ACTIVE SHOOTER OFFENDERS? IDENTIFYING OFFENDER THEMES ................................................................................................................. 25 Examining Active Shooter Offenders ....................................................................................... 25 Who are Active Shooter Offenders? ......................................................................................... 26 Biological Factors .................................................................................................................. 28 Mental Illness Factors ............................................................................................................ 29 Personality Factors ................................................................................................................ 29 Social Factors ........................................................................................................................ 30 Learning & Experience Factors ............................................................................................. 31 Blocked Need(s) Factors ....................................................................................................... 32 ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS vii Summarizing Offender