Mass Violence Resource Page

Our country is experiencing unprecedented levels of violent crime and mass violence attacks, bringing tragedy and heartbreak to thousands across the country. These tragedies are preventable and APA is committed to providing the resources prosecutors need to address mass shootings, hate crimes, and other violent offenses that impact the community.

This webpage will serve as a living webpage for prosecution teams and the public to access news, resources, and other important materials addressing the ongoing mass violence issue. This page will continuously be updated to provide the most timely criminal justice information.

If you have any questions or comments, we encourage you to use the contact form at the bottom of this page.

This resource list is under construction and will be further edited and revised to contain the latest information relevant to mass violence prosecution. If you have any suggested resources to add to this site, please contact us below.

Congressional Definition of Mass Violence:

“The term ‘mass killings’ means three or more killings in a single incident” that occur in a ‘public place’.”

Investigative Assistance for Violent Crime Act of 2012; Public Law 112-265, 126 STAT. 2435 (2013):

(The term) “mass shooting” is defined as a multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered with firearms, within one event, and in one or more locations in close proximity. Similarly, a “mass public shooting” is defined to mean a multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered with firearms, within one event, in at least one or more public locations, such as, a workplace, school, restaurant, house of worship, neighborhood, or other public setting.

Krouse & Richardson. (2015). “Mass Murder with Firearms: Incidents and Victims, 1999 – 2013. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service

APA Resources

Gun Violence Principles Statement

General Resources on Mass Violence and Gun Violence

National Mass Violence Victimization Resource Center (NMVVRC)

Prosecutors Against Gun Violence

Toward a Fair and Just Response to Gun Violence: Recommendations to Advance Policy, Practice and Research (Joyce Foundation) [Full Report Link]

This report contains the latest work of a unique group of experts convened by the Joyce Foundation beginning in 2019 under the banner “Toward a Fair and Just Response to Gun Violence.” The group includes advocates, prosecutors and defense attorneys, policy experts, researchers, violence intervention practitioners, and members of law enforcement, all experts in their fields who have come together as a community of practice to address some of the hardest questions facing our communities in 2022: how to reduce the devastating toll of gun violence experienced in many U.S. cities; how to limit the proliferation of guns – many owned illegally – in those same communities; how to do so without further undermining the relationship between police and communities of color; and how to do so without contributing to the over-incarceration of men and boys of color.

Mass Violence and Domestic Violence

Research shows nearly 70% of mass shootings involve domestic violence (12News)

New Study: Majority of Mass Shootings Linked to Domestic Violence (The Education Fund to Stop Gun Violence)

In the paper published in Injury Epidemiology, Lisa Geller, MPH, lead author of the paper and state affairs manager of the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (EFSGV), analyzed data from the Gun Violence Archive between 2014 and 2019 to reach two major conclusions. First, that in more than two-thirds (68.2%) of mass shootings analyzed, the perpetrator either killed family or intimate partners or the shooter had a history of domestic violence; and second, that DV-related mass shootings were associated with a greater fatality rate. On average, only one in six people survive a DV-related mass shooting compared to one in three people for non-DV mass shootings.

Mass Violence and Animal Abuse

The Link Between Cruelty to Animals and Violence Toward Humans (ALDF) [Fact Sheet Link]

Another study, published in 2013, found that 43% of those who commit school massacres also committed acts of cruelty to animals — generally against cats and dogs.