Developing a Coding System for Family Mass Shootings: Applicability of Risk Assessment Measures
Location
Center for Advanced Learning and Simulation (CALS)
Publication Date
April 2025
Start Date
17-4-2025 8:00 AM
Description
Introduction: Family mass shootings (FMS) are heavily understudied, leaving a gap in identifying risk factors for these events. Risk assessments such as the HCR-20 and VRAG utilize static and dynamic risk factors to assess risk of recidivism for violent offenders. Use of these empirically derived items may be beneficial in developing a coding system for extracting risk factors. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent items from risk assessment measures could be acquired from open-source documents on perpetrators of FMS events. Method: This study serves to develop a coding system for a larger study. Items from the VRAG and the historical portion of the HCR-20 were used to develop a codebook. Open-source documents (news articles, available court records) on cases (N=21) between 2016 and 2018 were coded according to the derived items using a yes/no/unknown format. Results: Fifty-seven percent of offenders died by suicide. Children were victims in 71% of events. Substance abuse was often noted, with 15% of offenders abusing alcohol and 33% using other types of illicit drugs. Over 55% of offenders showed evidence of mental health symptoms, with 32% having received a formal diagnosis. In terms of coding, open-source documents commonly noted substance abuse, presence of mental health symptoms, history of anger problems and criminal arrests, and if there were recent issues with employment. Trauma and childhood history as well as specific mental health diagnoses were seldom reported. Conclusions: As most research in mass shootings use open-source documentation, it is important to consider that these documents will lack childhood history and victimization experiences for perpetrators. It will be important for future research to focus on interviewing incarcerated offenders or family members of offenders to gain more information that may be important to determine risk for these violent events.
Recommended Citation
Sheppard, Samantha; Leavey, Jamie; Barker, Chikira H.; and Sacco, Victoria, "Developing a Coding System for Family Mass Shootings: Applicability of Risk Assessment Measures" (2025). Dept. of Psychiatry Research Symposium. 15.
https://digitalscholar.lsuhsc.edu/psych_rd/2025/presentations/15
Developing a Coding System for Family Mass Shootings: Applicability of Risk Assessment Measures
Center for Advanced Learning and Simulation (CALS)
Introduction: Family mass shootings (FMS) are heavily understudied, leaving a gap in identifying risk factors for these events. Risk assessments such as the HCR-20 and VRAG utilize static and dynamic risk factors to assess risk of recidivism for violent offenders. Use of these empirically derived items may be beneficial in developing a coding system for extracting risk factors. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent items from risk assessment measures could be acquired from open-source documents on perpetrators of FMS events. Method: This study serves to develop a coding system for a larger study. Items from the VRAG and the historical portion of the HCR-20 were used to develop a codebook. Open-source documents (news articles, available court records) on cases (N=21) between 2016 and 2018 were coded according to the derived items using a yes/no/unknown format. Results: Fifty-seven percent of offenders died by suicide. Children were victims in 71% of events. Substance abuse was often noted, with 15% of offenders abusing alcohol and 33% using other types of illicit drugs. Over 55% of offenders showed evidence of mental health symptoms, with 32% having received a formal diagnosis. In terms of coding, open-source documents commonly noted substance abuse, presence of mental health symptoms, history of anger problems and criminal arrests, and if there were recent issues with employment. Trauma and childhood history as well as specific mental health diagnoses were seldom reported. Conclusions: As most research in mass shootings use open-source documentation, it is important to consider that these documents will lack childhood history and victimization experiences for perpetrators. It will be important for future research to focus on interviewing incarcerated offenders or family members of offenders to gain more information that may be important to determine risk for these violent events.