Shooting For Accuracy: Comparing Data Sources On Mass Murder

Although researchers have questioned their coverage and accuracy, the media routinely are used as sources of data on mass murder in the United States. Databases compiled from media sources such as newspaper and network news programs include the New York Police Department\u27s Active Shooters file, the Brady Campaign Mass Casualty Shootings data set, and the Mother Jones database. Conversely, official crime data have been underutilized by researchers who study mass murder (for exceptions, see Duwe, 2007; Fox & Levin, 1998). In this study, we compare similarities and differences for mass murder cases in the United States as portrayed by selected mass media sources. Then, we turn our focus to a comparison of the Uniform Crime Reports\u27 (UCR) Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Our primary focus is on mass murders involving four or more fatalities-not including the perpetrator-that have occurred between 2001 and 2010. Implications for enhancing the comprehensiveness and quality of mass murder data with the goal of increasing their usefulness for guiding prevention and risk mitigation efforts also are discussed. © 2013 SAGE Publications

Shooting for Accuracy: Comparing Data Sources on Mass Murder

Although researchers have questioned their coverage and accuracy, the media routinely are used as sources of data on mass murder in the United States. Databases compiled from media sources such as newspaper and network news programs include the New York Police Department\u27s Active Shooters file, the Brady Campaign Mass Casualty Shootings data set, and the Mother Jones database. Conversely, official crime data have been underutilized by researchers who study mass murder (for exceptions, see Duwe, 2007; Fox & Levin, 1998). In this study, we compare similarities and differences for mass murder cases in the United States as portrayed by selected mass media sources. Then, we turn our focus to a comparison of the Uniform Crime Reports\u27 (UCR) Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Our primary focus is on mass murders involving four or more fatalities-not including the perpetrator-that have occurred between 2001 and 2010. Implications for enhancing the comprehensiveness and quality of mass murder data with the goal of increasing their usefulness for guiding prevention and risk mitigation efforts also are discussed. © 2013 SAGE Publications

Fatal Factors For Preschoolers: Victims, Offenders, And Context

This research examines how victim and offender characteristics, as well as contextual factors are related to the lethality of assaults for children less than 5 years old. The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data for 2006 to 2011 were analyzed using logistic regression techniques to estimate two models designed to explore factors associated with the death of preschoolers. Results indicate that the probability of fatality is significantly influenced by victim and offender characteristics, victim–offender relationship, weapon used, time of incident, and region of the United States in which the incident occurred

Session 3: Collaborations Among Academics, Practitioners, and the Community

The authors have conducted an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data sets to produce baseline, process and outcome evaluation measures of juvenile and young adult firearm violence in a five-county area of metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. Data are collected on an ongoing basis and provided to the Atlanta Police Department Guns and Violent Crime Suppression Unit, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and other partners to shape, refine and evaluate an intervention strategy to reduce firearm crime and victimization in the project area. GIS analysis of firearm crime is conducted monthly and reviewed with the unit. Targeted law enforcement activities are being implemented in identified "hot spot" times and places. Measures will be conducted again at the end of the project period to determine the impact of the prevention and intervention initiatives. Introduction and Background In 1994, metropolitan Atlanta was named a Project PACT ("Pulling America's Communities Together") city..