The Need Of Mass Shootings And Mass Shootings In America

“ My biggest frustration so far is the fact that this society has not been willing to take some basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who can do just unbelievable damage… This is becoming a norm. We should be ashamed.” President Barack Obama said in regard to the shooting in Newton Connecticut in June of 2014. “We're the only developed country on earth where this happens and it happens now once a week, and it's a one day story. There's no place else like this,” he added. America is a unique country in that it is one of the only countries in which the right to bear arms is constitutionally protected. It is also the sole country with the most civilian owned guns and the highest rate of gun related violence. A mass shooting is defined as a single shooting incident which kills or injures four or more people, including the assailant. Between the years 2000 and 2014, the United states witnessed 133 mass shootings which is ten times more than those observed in developed countries such as Germany, Switzerland and Finland. According to the Mass Shooting Tracker, in 2015 only, there were 372 mass shootings in the US. 475 people were killed and 1,870 were wounded in these shootings. Excluding suicides, some 13,286 people were killed in 2015 in the US by firearms and 26,819 people were injured. According to the most recent data, ninety-two people on average are killed in the United States by guns.

As a whole, literature on the topic of mental illness in our country and specifically in our criminal justice system had a reoccurring theme. There are millions of individuals who suffer from mental illness but are improperly being handled through the criminal justice system. These individuals are deemed criminal just by their acts and their mental health state is not overly examine. Jails and prisons are being overcrowded. State prisons and jails are overpopulated anywhere from 15 to 32% (Spending Money in All the Wrong Places: Jails & Prisons).

The incarceration of those who are mentally ill is on the continual rise. Many states juggle with the decision of placing offenders in Mental Hospital or locating them in State Prisons. Latessa and Holsinger (2011) discuss two major reasons for the increase of those with mental illness within the prison system. First, many states have no longer allow for the insanity plea during criminal trials, thus those who suffer from mental illness are not required to receive mandatory mental treatment. This is due to the discomforting idea that criminal offenders should not be given the same living conditions as those whom are patients of mental wards. Secondly, longer sentences have created a surplus of mentally ill offenders needing treatment. Soderstrom (2007) added that the lack of mental health support systems in

From this quote, it is clear that, despite worldwide news coverage, mass school shootings or what may be described as rampage shootings, are actually rare events. They only make up a small proportion of the thousands of gun deaths per year in America as a whole.

The shutdown of state mental hospitals and lack of available financial and institutional resources force mentally ill people to the United States Judicial System for mental health. Every year thousands of people are arrested for various crimes and they are sent to jail. Sixteen percent of these people have some type of mental health problem (Public Broadcasting System , 2001). When we consider that the United States has the largest incarcerated population in the world at 2.2 million, this number is staggering (Anasseril E. Daniel, 2007). This is about 1% of the entire population of the United States. There are many reasons as to why the situation has taken such a bad turn and when the history of the treatment of mental illness is examined one can see how the situation developed into the inhumane disaster it is today.

The United States criminal justice system has been continuously increasing incarceration among individuals who suffer from a sever mental illness. As of 2007 individuals with severe mental illness were over twice as likely to be found in prisons than in society (National Commission of Correctional Health Care, 2002, as cited in Litschge &Vaughn, 2009). The offenses that lead to their commitment in a criminal facility, in the majority of cases, derive from symptoms of their mental illness instead of deviant behavior. Our criminal justice system is failing those who would benefit more from the care of a psychiatric rehabilitation facility or psychiatric hospital by placing them in correctional facilities or prisons.

When we hear the words mass shooting, most of us immediately pause and begin to think the worst. We are filled with sorrow that soon turns to anger as details of the event emerge. A portion of the population immediately begins to call for more gun regulation and the battle is staged again. This scenario plays out in the media and in the legislative halls around the country and seems to occur on a much too frequent basis. Has the frequency of mass shootings actually increased? Or has technology allowed the media to convey stories within minutes of their occurrence giving the appearance of increasing crime? Many people believe the term mass shooting and inner city are almost synonymous

Mass shootings have been a growing epidemic in the past years in the United States. According to CNN between the years 1966 and 2017 there have been 90 Mass Shootings in the United States; with the shootings more likely to occur at the workplace or at schools(1). But why is this happening? Why are unlikely citizens rising up and performing such vulgar actions? What truly has people baffled is what is causing people to commit such a horrific act of violence? We are baffled because we don’t understand what is the cause that the some of the people committing these shootings are thought to be normal, well raised, and stable-mind people. There are many theories as to why people commit these mass shootings. One is that it is that a people's thresholds for the act and they are joining in. Another is that is is testosterone and natural dominance causing those viewed as outcasts to commit the shooting. But I believe it is both of those but that there is a stronger one that explains the reason why good people are committing horrific shootings. My theory is the psychological act of splitting.

"I'm angry someone would do this to us. There are lives ruined, families ruined, and our whole school year is ruined" (Brackely 1). Casey Brackely, once a student that attended Columbine High School, remembers the tragedy of the horrific Columbine shooting that killed and injured many students. Mass shootings in the United States have been on the rise since the 1980’s, especially in the last decade. These shooters motives and profiles are almost all terrifyingly alike. Many of these shooters try to imitate and parallel the tragic shooting of the Columbine High School in 1999. These shootings have made peaceful organizations, such as an elementary school; become a place of violence and death. Currently, in the United States, an epidemic of

Gun violence, and solutions to decrease the amount of gun violence and mass shootings, has always been an issue in Presidential elections, and 2016 is no exception. In a country where there have been, according to a study by the CDC and reported by CNN, there have been over 406,000 American gun deaths from 2001 to 2015, compared to the number of Americans killed by terrorist attacks, slightly over 3,000 in that same timeframe (Bower and Jones). Every candidate running for the Presidency has their own solution to gun violence, from regulation and control of firearms to making it easier to purchase a gun, to some wanting to keep the status quo. There is a proposed gun control solution that does enjoy broad support across most of the public and even gun owners themselves, the expansion of background checks. With the broad reach of support that this has, and its implementation being relatively small in its size and scope, as well as proven results in the 17 states that have implemented this, expanding background checks for firearm sales should be done in order to reduce gun violence and mass shootings nationwide

Nine students were killed at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. A man opened fire in a church, in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine people, including the pastor. Twenty-seven were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Twelve were killed in the Washington Navy Yard. This is only a few examples from a very long list. The grim truth is that mass shootings are becoming the new normal. Every few months, another mass shooting occurs and the public goes through the same routine of mourning, honoring, and ultimately debating. What causes these manic episodes of multiple, indiscriminate gun deaths? Some push for more gun control, others argue that the U.S. mental health system is a failure. Controversy aside,

This research paper discusses the issues of people who suffer from mental illness being placed in jails instead of receiving the necessary treatment they need. The number of inmates serving time in jail or prison who suffer from mental illness continues to rise. In 2015 the Bureau of Justice reported that sixty five percent of state prisoners and fourth five percent of federal prisoners suffered from mental conditions such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Individuals who suffer from these problems require special mental health treatment for their needs to be met. Many of our prisons and jails lack the necessary resources to care for these inmates and because of that inmates who do not receive the treatment they need are at a higher risk of becoming a repeat offender. Despite the research and findings that show that the criminal justice system is unable to deal with issues dealing with the mentally ill there has been limited solutions put in place. Given the challenges the criminal justice system faces it is important to address the problem and come up with better solutions. This research paper will discuss the various techniques and solutions that scholars have propped and their effect on the issue of mentally ill criminals and how the criminal justice system should approach the problem.

Mass shooting cases have been very common in the history of America. Among the recently witnessed deadly mass shooting include: harvest music festival whereby Stephen Paddock killed 59 and injured more than 520, and pulse night club where 49 were killed.

On October 1, 2017 America was, yet again, devastated when Las Vegas suffered the United States worst mass shooting. One man killed over 50 people and injured 527. After he was finished firing from the 39th floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort, he committed suicide. His name was Stephan Paddock (Yan and Park). When most people think of a mass shooting, they think of a terroristic act or someone shooting at a large group of innocent citizens, like Columbine High School or Sandy Hook Elementary School. In actuality, most people do not realize that whenever two or more people are injured or killed by a gun, it is considered a mass shooting. These “mass shootings” happen every day in America and they are one of the leading causes of death in

The debate of gun control have become more controversial due to the increase of domestic incidents such as mass shootings and police brutality.