Date of Award

Spring 2026

Language

English

Embargo Period

4-28-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

School of Criminal Justice

Program

Criminal Justice

First Advisor

Theodore Wilson

Committee Members

Emma Fridel, Dana Peterson, Brandon Behlendorf

Keywords

mass shootings, mass murder, homicide, time series

Subject Categories

Criminology

Abstract

Mass shootings have garnered more public attention in recent years, in large part due to their increase in both frequency and lethality. Despite public concern, policy and prevention efforts have remained limited and have not yet resulted in a decrease in these events. Understanding mass shootings as a subset of mass murder will help identify how mass shootings are unique from other mass murders, which will help to identify more effective prevention tactics. Additionally, exploring mass shooting trends in the context of homicide trends and other crime trends will illuminate patterns that can be used to inform policy and prevention efforts. This dissertation contains two studies that expand research on mass shootings: examining mass shootings in comparison to other methods of mass murder and analyzing trends in mass shootings against general homicide and other crime trends (all crime, property crime, aggravated assault, violent crime, homicide, and index crime). Data comes from the AP/USA TODAY/ Northeastern University Mass Killing Database, which includes information on all multiple homicides that have four or more fatalities in the United States between 2006 and the present, the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS), both of which include national data on general, violent, aggravated assault, and property crime, and the UCR Supplementary Homicide Reports, which include data on national homicide. Study 1 utilizes multiple regression to establish that mass shootings are substantially different from other methods of mass murder, while Study 2 uses time series analysis to find that mass shooting trends are related to some crime trends but are distinct from other mass murder trends. These findings help advance our understanding of mass murder events, particularly mass shootings, while also opening avenues for future investigations into policy and methods of prevention.

License

This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.

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