Date

8-9-2024

Department

Helms School of Government

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Criminal Justice (PhD)

Chair

Timothy Seguin

Keywords

Public Mass Shootings, Texas, California, Routine Activity Theory, Causal-Comparaitive, Firearms

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences | Statistics and Probability

Abstract

Public mass shootings are a distinct and unique phenomenon that receives vast media and public attention due to the location, weapons used, and amount of people killed or injured. These mass shootings occur in places where people frequent daily in their routine activities and are unexpected, seemingly random, or symbolic events. This study used a casual-comparative quantitative research design using routine activity theory as the foundation to investigate public mass shootings in Texas and California from 1966 to 2023. This study used public open-source data collection and analysis to identify and substantiate all mass shootings that satisfy the research inclusion/exclusion criteria. A gap in research was addressed using the routine activity theory framework to predict mass shooting victimization in two of the largest populated states in the U.S. within the specified period. Multiple regression was used as the data analysis technique to measure routine activity theory variables of motivation, target selection, and guardianship (independent variables) to predict victimization fatalities/injuries (dependent variable). Findings revealed a statistically significant difference in routine activity theory components related to victimization in Texas compared to California. Additional findings indicated a statistically significant difference in victimization severity in Texas and incident number disparities in California.

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