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Mass violence: Why do they do it? What can we do about it?

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Q This week it was northern Illinois. But it seems like every time you turn around, somebody’s shooting up a school, workplace, or public area.  What makes a person snap and go on this kind of killing rampage?  Is there anything the public can do to protect themselves?  And what’s law enforcement’s role in preventing and responding to mass violence attacks?

A:  Mass murder is defined as the killing of multiple victims in a single incident, typically using the highest level of lethal technology available to the killer, which in most cases involves handguns, assault weapons, explosives, or arson.  Some types of mass murder are committed in the name of a political, religious, or ideological cause; we label these terrorism, but this is not what we’re talking about here.  In the case of the Omaha mall, and other like it, it is usually one disturbed individual whose fantasies of outrage and revenge...

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Multiple Homicides.

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Abstract

A study of multiple homicides or multiple deaths involving a solitary incident of violence by another individual was performed on the case files of the Office of the Medical Examiner of Metropolitan Dade County in Miami, Florida, during 1983-1987. A total of 107 multiple homicides were studied: 88 double, 17 triple, one quadruple, and one quintuple. The 236 victims were analyzed regarding age, race, sex, cause of death, toxicologic data, perpetrator, locale of the incident, and reason for the incident. This article compares this type of slaying with other types of homicide including those perpetrated by serial killers. Suggestions for future research in this field are offered...

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The “Pseudocommando” Mass Murderer: Part I, The Psychology of Revenge and Obliteration

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Abstract

The pseudocommando is a type of mass murderer who kills in public during the daytime, plans his offense well in advance, and comes prepared with a powerful arsenal of weapons. He has no escape planned and expects to be killed during the incident. Research suggests that the pseudocommando is driven by strong feelings of anger and resentment, flowing from beliefs about being persecuted or grossly mistreated. He views himself as carrying out a highly personal agenda of payback. Some mass murderers take special steps to send a final communication to the public or news media; these communications, to date, have received little detailed analysis. An offender's use of language may reveal important data about his state of mind, motivation, and psychopathology. Part I of this article reviews the research on the pseudocommando, as well as the psychology of revenge, with special attention to revenge fantasies. It is argued that revenge...

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Journal of Psychiatry and Law. III, 1975: Dismemberment Murder: In Search of the Object. Jay E. Harris and Anneliese A. Pontius. Pp. 7-23.

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This paper expresses the thesis that acts of dismemberment attempt to disintegrate the most important object representationin order to reconstitute it in a subjectively more meaningful way. The older man described in the paper cut his victim into seven pieces, each one representing a lost member of his own family. Then he merged with his own mother-child image. A younger man attempted to protect his wife from his image of her destruction by dismembering another woman. Dionysian, Toltec, Mayan and Aztec ritual dismemberments are seen as collective repetitive re-enactments of infantile ego states seeking access to the gifts of the gods through primary identification.

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Exhumation – Nuisance to the Dead, Justified?

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Abstract

Objective Exhumation stands as a very significant feature of forensic investigations. The legal excavation of dead bodies for ascertainment of the cause of death has always aided the law enforcement agencies to comprehend the anonymity of any suspicious case and further convict the criminal in cases of homicides. This study analyses the different aspects of the exhumations which were carried out and were autopsied in Karachi during the study period.

Method This was a cross-sectional study, and included all the exhumations carried out in Karachi during a period of 7 years and 7 months from 1 January 2004 to 31 July 2011.

Results A total of 101 exhumations were carried out during the study period. Out of 101 cases, 63 were males (62.4%) and 38 females (37.6%) giving a male to female ratio of about 3:2.

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The Gastrointestinal Concealment Of Illegal Drugs

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Abstract

The clinical, radiological and analytical aspects, and the complications observed in 16 cases of swallowing or insertion into the rectum of illicit drugs ("body-packing") are described. The drugs detected were heroin (6 cases), cocaine (5 cases) and cannabis (5 cases). In 15 cases abdominal plain X-rays were useful in the detection of the drug packages, their position and progression in the gastrointestinal tract and the presence of complications. The most valuable finding for radiologic diagnosis was the presence of a radiolucent halo surrounding the drug packages, or "double condom" sign, which was observed in 13/15 cases (87%). Urine analysis was positive for opiates or metabolites of cocaine in 7/9 cases (78%). One case presented acute heroin intoxication and three subjects gastric or intestinal obstruction requiring surgical treatment. In another case a packet, which had been retained in the stomach for five days, was extracted by... .

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A Comparison of Homicide Trends in Local Weed and Seed Sites Relative to Their Host Jurisdictions, 1996 to 2001

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Operation Weed and Seed is a cooperative strategy involving local community social organizations and local law enforcement, the United States Attorneys' Offices around the country and the Executive Office for Weed and Seed (EOWS) of the United States Department of Justice, in addition to a multitude of public and private stakeholders. The goal of Weed and Seed is to systematically reduce crime in targeted high crime communities through the coordinated efforts of enforcement, prevention, and neighborhood restoration. Unlike other crime suppression or prevention programs, however, the efforts of Weed and Seed are aimed at meeting this end through the strategic coordination of pre-existing efforts and the marshaling of established community resources that go beyond the traditional activities of justice-related agencies. In bringing together diverse community actors, the Weed and Seed strategy recognizes the need to first eliminate crime and criminals in an area (weeding) and to foster community and...

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Homicidal Penetrating Incised Wounds Of The Thorax. An Autopsy Study Of 52 Cases.

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Abstract

During March-June and August-September 1981, 245 medicolegal autopsies were conducted by the author at the Johannesburg and Diepkloof government mortuaries. In 52 cases (21.2%) penetrating incised wounds of the thorax were found to be the cause of death. These involved diverse and often multiple thoracic structures - ventricles, atria, interventricular septum, lungs, and, in particular, blood vessels. In most of these cases death was ascribed to either exsanguination and the attendant hypovolaemic shock or, in those wounds involving the pericardium and myocardium, cardiac tamponade. Several findings emerged from this study: (i) an abysmally low number of the victims (5.8%) reached a medical facility alive; (ii) no females were seen, and the 21-30 year age group predominated (46.2%); (iii) 80.8% had arrived at the casualty department during a weekend; (iv) 71.2% had received a single fatal penetrating incised wound; (v) nearly two-thirds of the wounds seen were inflicted over the...

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Surgical Judgment in the Management of Stab Wounds of the Abdomen:

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SINCE 1830, the management of stab wounds of the abdomen has alternated between operative and non-operative, but the policy of routine exploration of these wounds has dominated since World War I. In that military setting, it was first shown that mortality could be lowered from 90%o to 53% by exploration of all penetrating wounds. This approach was reinforced by the experiences in World War IL and in Korea when the mortality was, respectively, 25% and 12%.29 These military precepts were enthusiastically applied to civilian wounds. At Charity Hospital in New Orleans, a rigid policy of mandatory laparotomy for all patients with wounds which might have entered the peritoneal cavity was instituted by Miles in 1891 and continued off and on9 11, 26 until 1967. Both university services at Charity Hospital adhered faithfully to the policy, the philosophy which was epitomized by Moss, Schmidt and Creech16 in their review o...f

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The Law Of Succession: Death Testate Or Intestate

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Holographic Will (Hower 91)

As noted in the text, California does recognize the validity of holographic wills. Prob 6111. To be valid, a holographic will must be signed by the testator and the will’s material provisions must be in the handwriting of the testator, and such a document will constitute a valid holographic will whether it has been witnessed or not. Prob 6111(a). In addition, the entire will need not be in the testator’s handwriting; statements of testamentary intent in holographic wills may be made either in the testator’s handwriting or as part of a commercially printed form will. Prob 6111(c). A holographic will may be proved in the same manner as any other writing (Prob 8222) including through the use of extrinsic evidence (Prob 6111.5). A holographic will need not be dated to be valid; however, if not dated and the provisions of the holographic will are inconsistent with the provisions of another will,...

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Modelling Cranial Gunshot Wounds And Backspatter

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Abstract

Bloodspatter from gunshot wounds may be divided into two categories; forward spatter and backspatter. Forward spatter is ejected from the exit wound and travels in the same direction as the bullet. Backspatter on the other hand is ejected from the entrance wound and travels against the line of fire, back towards the shooter. This means it is commonly deposited on the hand of the shooter or the firearm, making it a critical piece of evidence when determining the manner of death. Despite this fact, research in this area is limited and no realistic synthetic model for studying backspatter has been documented in the literature. This project was initiated in response to this, in an attempt to create a realistic cranial model that could produce backspatter from a gunshot wound. A pig head model was developed, as it could be validated unlike a human model. This model consisted of synthetic skin, soft tissue...

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Backspatter From Experimental Close-Range Shots To The Head. I. Macrobackspatter.

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Abstract

Backspatter is the ejection of biological material from a gunshot entrance wound against the line of fire. This phenomenon was investigated experimentally in transverse gunshots to the heads of calves (n = 9) using two types of 9 mm Parabellum ammunition from shooting distances of 0-10 cm. The resulting bloodstains were documented on white paper placed horizontally 60 cm below the impact site. In this report the analysis was restricted to stains with a diameter > 0.5 mm. Backspatter was documented after every gunshot. The number of stains varied from 31-324 per gunshot and appeared to be independent of the shooting distance. The maximum distance droplets travelled varied from 72-119 cm. The majority of droplets accumulated between 0 and 50 cm. The number of droplets and the distances travelled should be higher in man for anatomical reasons. The direction a single droplet can take comprises every possible angle between the most tangential ones to the skin surface. ...

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Recovery and Interpretation of Burned Human Remains

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ABSRACT

Victim remains at fatal fire scenes are typically difficult to detect, recover and handle. All of the burned material at the scene, including biological tissue, is often modified to a similar appearance, and bones, in particular, become discolored, brittle, and highly fragmented. As a consequence, these remains are often missed, disturbed, altered, or even destroyed during scene processing with the existing protocols. The added postmortem fracturing, fragmentation and bone loss resulting from these recovery techniques hinder the already difficult task of autopsy and laboratory analysis of burned human remains. This is especially problematic for bone trauma analysis, as its most immediate goal is distinguishing perimortem (forensically significant) trauma, from postmortem (not forensically significant) alteration. The substantial addition of trauma features created by fire and then recovery can result in a daunting analytical task. Lack of on-scene recordation of relevant information related to body positioning and contextual relationships of remains as well as other...

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Microscopical Study On Estimation Of Time Since Death In Skeletal Remains.

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Abstract

For the purpose of estimating time since death in skeletal remains, postmortem changes in human compact bones were examined by microradiography and electron microscopy. The UV-fluorescence of the peripheral zone of compact bone was also examined by microscopic spectrophotometry. Microradiographic examination revealed no morphological changes in bones left in the open air for long periods, except one of 15 years since death. In bones left in the soil, vacuoles of 5-10 microns diameter, which contained a honeycomb-like structure formed by small vacuoles of 0.5-1 microns diameter, were found in the peripheral zone of the substantia compacta approximately 5 years since death, and in bones of 6 years or more, this change extended to the mid-zone. In bones left in the sea for 4-5 years, vacuoles of 5-10 microns diameter were observed in the outer peripheral zone of the substantia compacta. The relative intensity of UV-fluorescence in bones dwindled with time since death...

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