The Violence Project
How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
An examination of the phenomenon of mass shootings in America and an urgent call to implement evidence-based strategies to stop these tragedies.
“Groundbreaking.” ―Rachel Louise Snyder, bestselling author of No Visible Bruises
Winner of the 2022 Minnesota Book Award
Using data from the writers’ groundbreaking research on mass shooters, including first-person accounts from the perpetrators themselves, The Violence Project charts new pathways to prevention and innovative ways to stop the social contagion of violence.
Frustrated by reactionary policy conversations that never seemed to convert into meaningful action, special investigator and psychologist Jill Peterson and sociologist James Densley built the Violence Project, the first comprehensive database of mass shooters. Their goal was to establish the root causes of mass shootings and figure out how to stop them by examining hundreds of data points in the life histories of more than 170 mass shooters—from their childhood and adolescence to their mental health and motives. They’ve also interviewed the living perpetrators of mass shootings and people who knew them, shooting survivors, victims’ families, first responders, and leading experts to gain a comprehensive firsthand understanding of the real stories behind them, rather than the sensationalized media narratives that too often prevail.
For the first time, instead of offering thoughts and prayers for the victims of these crimes, Peterson and Densley share their data-driven solutions for exactly what we must do at the individual level, in our communities, and as a country, to put an end to these tragedies that have defined our modern era.
For the first time, instead of offering thoughts and prayers for the victims of these crimes, Peterson and Densley share their data-driven solutions for exactly what we must do—at the individual level, in our communities, and as a country—to put an end to these tragedies that have defined our modern era.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this insightful and cautiously optimistic account, psychologist Peterson and sociologist Densley present findings from their study of nearly 200 mass shootings in the U.S. between 1966 and 2020. Drawing on trial transcripts, media reports, and interviews with perpetrators, their friends and family, and survivors, Peterson and Densley identify risk factors, including childhood abuse and neglect, that increase the likelihood a young person might commit such a crime, and contend that trauma screening in schools could help reduce the frequency of mass shootings. Peterson and Densley also show that shooters often experience a personal crisis shortly before committing their crime, and provide lists of warning signs (increased agitation, abusive behavior) and de-escalation strategies. To prevent mass shootings motivated by hate-based ideology, the authors suggest deplatforming extremists online and "cognitively empower" people to think more critically. They also call on reporters to avoid "excessive, irrelevant details" in their coverage of perpetrators, and support "red flag" laws that allow for the removal of firearms from people deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. Throughout, the authors' nuanced portraits of mass shooters buttress the case that these tragedies "are not an inevitable fact of American life; they're preventable." This is a sensitive and knowledgeable treatment of one of America's most vexing social problems.
