Victimology of Mass Shootings and Mass Murders Not Involving Firearms

Abstract

Most research to date has focused on perpetrators of mass murder incidents. Hence, there is little information on victims. We examined 973 mass murders that occurred in the United States between 1900 and 2019 resulting in 5,273 total fatalities and 4,498 nonfatal injuries for a total of 9,771 victims (on average 10 victims per incident). Approximately 64% of victims of mass murder were White individuals, 13% were Black individuals, 6% were Asian individuals, and 14% were Latinx individuals. Given the higher number of nonfatal injuries per non-firearm mass murder event (11.0 vs. 2.8, p < .001), the total number of victims was only 50% higher for mass shootings (5,855 victims) vs. non-firearm mass murder events (3,916 victims). Among the 421 incidents of mass murder in the United States since 2000, Black, Asian, and Native American individuals were overrepresented among victims of mass shootings compared with their representation in the general U.S. population, and White individuals were underrepresented (all p ≤ .002). Findings of racial/ethnic differences were similar among victims of mass murder committed with means other than firearms for Black, Asian, and White individuals. These findings highlight different areas of victimology within the context of these incidents.

Keywords: fatalities; gender; race; victims.