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Reflection #12
- What are the benefits and drawbacks / consequencyes of attempting to profile mass / school shooters?
- I think that the drawbacks of attempting to profile mass/school shooters would be the fact that there is a possibility of making the wrong person being held suspect. I do think that another consequence would be that in doing this some people who may exhibit some of the markings for a mass shooters would be targeted by others even though they have no intention of committing a mass shooting
- Is it even possible to create such a profile? Why or why not?
- I think that it is somewhat possible to create a profile for a mass shooter. Mass shooters often times have the same interest and ideas. You can look into things that people are interested in. In some cases it could be hard to profile a mass shooter like what is said in my statement above about how some people have the markings but not the intent. I feel that is there is a way to profile a serial killer that it is equally possible to profile a mass shooter.
I agree with you fully that profiling is not perfect and there is a strong chance that the wrong person can be held as a potential shooter. I also understand your concern that profiling people might almost put a target on them from others. That is a serious concern however I think the best way to implement this profiling is on the private level meaning that the public does not have access to the names and other sensitive information of the people listed in this profile.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you that it can problematic to label or profile people as potential mass shooters. You made a good point that a serious drawback to creating profiles is that by creating the profile they could end up with the wrong potential suspect. There is also a risk that people who are not dangerous may be labeled as such and vice versa as well. I am unsure if looking at people's interest may the best thing to base potential profiles on. I think if any profile's were to be made it should focus on the behaviors exhibited prior to the attack. This way more can be uncovered about warning signs behaviors, which may help recognize when people are planning attacks.
ReplyDeleteHi Jasmine, nice post! I agree that a profile for mass shooters would be difficult to build accurately, as the characteristics differ for each offender. However, I know that this is the case for every person committing a crime and the profile attached with it. Because of this, I feel as though creating a loose general similarity for mass shooters is the best option. And then an individual investigation or profile can be created based on the situation or threats presented. This way less threats are excluded because they do not fit the profile, and those who are innocent are excluded during an individual investigation.
ReplyDelete"Mass shooters often times have the same interest and ideas." I think that one of the challenges with trying to identify potential future mass killers, is that stuff about their fascination with other mass killers often comes out after the fact. People can be really good at hiding secrets from people if they want to. There are definitely traits that are similar between these killers, though it's without a doubt difficult to try and piece together a nice cookie cutter profile.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!