Clare S. Allely - The Psychology of Extreme Violence: A Case Study Approach to Serial Homicide, Mass Shooting, School Shooting and Lone-actor Terrorism

Featuring a unique overview of the different forms of extreme violence, this book considers the psychology of extreme violence alongside a variety of contributing factors, such as brain abnormalities in homicide offenders. Featuring several contemporary real-world case studies, this book offers insight into the psychology of serial homicide offenders, mass shooters, school shooters and lone-actor terrorists.

The main purpose of this book is not to glorify or condemn the actions of these individuals, but to attempt to explain the motivations and circumstances that inspire such acts of extreme violence. By adopting a detailed case study approach, it aims to increase our understanding of the specific motivations and psychological factors underlying extreme violence.

Using nontechnical language, this book is the ideal companion for students, researchers and forensic practitioners interested in the multidisciplinary nature of extreme violence. This book will also be of interest to students taking courses on homicide, mass shooting, school shooting, terrorism, forensic psychology and criminology and criminal justice.

Clare S. Allely is a Reader in Forensic Psychology at the University of Salford in England and is an affiliate member of the Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre at Gothenburg University, Sweden. Clare is also an Honorary Research Fellow in the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences affiliated to the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Lastly, Clare is an Associate of the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice (CYCJ) at the University of Strathclyde.

A Case Study Approach to Serial Homicide, Mass Shooting, School Shooting and Lone-actor Terrorism

Clare S. Allely

First published 2020

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2020 Clare S. Allely

The right of Clare S. Allely to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

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ISBN: 978-0-367-48092-9 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-48093-6 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-03796-5 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo

by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear

This book is dedicated to my mum and dad,

Mary and Bob Allely.

In the United States, between 1978 and 1991, a man murdered 17 men and boys, with the majority of these murders taking place between 1987 and 1991. His murders involved rape, dismemberment, necrophilia and cannibalism. He also made crude attempts to lobotomize some of his victims. In the United Kingdom, a man killed his 15 male victims over a five-year period between 1978 and 1983. A man murdered 10 people (mostly women) in Wichita, Kansas in the United States between 1974 and 1991. On June 17, 2015, a 21-year-old man shot nine people at an Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. On May 23, 2014, a 22-year-old man embarked on a premeditated, murderous rampage in Isla Vista Santa Barbara, California killing six people, and himself and injuring 14 others. On December 14, 2012, a 20-year-old man shot his mother multiple times in the head before going out and killing 26 people, 20 of them young children, inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. A man known as the Unabomber sent through the mail or hand delivered 16 package bombs to mainly scientists and academicians over the course of 17 years, which resulted in the death of three and the injury of 23 people. On July 22, 2011, a Norwegian man killed 77 people during two well-planned attacks. The first involved the bombing of government buildings in Oslo and the second the shooting spree on the island of Utya.

In the aftermath or detection of such terrible tragedies and extreme acts of violence, the same questions are always asked. What motivated the individual to perpetrate such acts of extreme violence? Was he mentally ill? Was he insane? Did he have any brain abnormalities? Did he come from an abusive background? Were there any red flags or warning signs of what was to come? Could it have been prevented? What can we do to avoid more of these tragedies in the future? This book will address these questions through the use of case studies for a range of extreme acts of violence, including: mass shooting, school shooting, serial homicide and lone-actor terrorism. Note the use of the he in the questions above. This is because the majority of such extreme acts of violence are carried out by males. In , starting with an overview of the literature relating to psychology and terrorism and, then, in more specific detail with the case studies of Theodore Kaczynski (the Unabomber) and Anders Behring Breivik. The final chapter explores the available literature and resources on threat assessment and prevention.

This book is a comprehensive resource for academics and professionals involved in extreme violence, such as psychologists, psychiatrists, investigators, lawyers, profilers, criminal justice professionals, educators, social workers and anyone who wants to understand the contributing factors that can be involved in such extreme acts of violence. This book will also be of interest to students taking courses on homicide, serial homicide, sexual homicide, mass shooting, school shooting, terrorism, lone-actor terrorism, forensic psychology and criminology and criminal justice. The main purpose of this book is not to glorify or in any way condone the actions of those who perpetrate such acts of extreme violence; rather, it aims to positively influence how we think about and respond to the individuals who perpetrate such extreme acts of violence. By adopting a case study approach, we are able to gain a rich and extremely detailed (and sometimes personal) insight into the pathway to violence in each of the offenders explored in this book, with the aim of increasing our understanding of what were the specific motivations and psychological factors underlying their extreme acts of violence. I hope that readers of this book will find it useful, informative, interesting and that it will stimulate debate and new ideas of how we can even more effectively study these individuals to increase our understanding and prevent further devastating tragedies in the future.

The development of a lone-actor terrorist, mass shooter or serial homicide offender is the result of a combination and interaction of a number of different factors (psychosocial factors, genetic, neurobiological, etc). Psychosocial stressors such as childhood abuse is a factor that has been found to alter the trajectory of brain development (van der Kolk, 2003; Andersen et al., 2008; Blanco et al., 2015; Teicher & Samson, 2016).