美国国家公共电台 NPR--Author examines the behavioral patterns of people who carried out mass shootings

Author examines the behavioral patterns of people who carried out mass shootings

Transcript¹

NPR's Rachel Martin talks with Mark Follman about the behavioral patterns of mass shooters. Follman is the author of: Trigger Points: Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Fifteen minutes - the shooter in Uvalde, Texas, posted private messages through Facebook that he was going to shoot up an elementary school and 15 minutes later, he did. Here's what Republican Governor Greg Abbott said yesterday in a press conference.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GREG ABBOTT: There has been no criminal history identified yet. He may have had a juvenile² record, but that is yet to be determined³. There was no known mental health history of the gunman.

MARTIN: But that fact did not stop Governor Abbott and other Republicans from deflecting⁴ talk about stricter gun laws and instead blaming the massacre⁵ on mental illness.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ABBOTT: The ability of an 18-year-old to buy a long gun has been in place in the state of Texas for more than 60 years. Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge, period.

MARTIN: But again, in Abbott's own words...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ABBOTT: There was no known mental health history of the gunman.

MARTIN: I talked to Mark Follman about this. A decade ago, he created a database to track mass shootings. He's the author of "Trigger Points: Inside The Mission To Stop Mass Shootings In America."

MARK FOLLMAN: There's often, in the aftermath of these attacks, a rush to blame mental illness as the fundamental cause. And that's just not true. When you study these cases, there is a whole range of circumstances and, often, a rational thought process in the person planning this kind of violence. So of course, we have to acknowledge that no person who commits a mass shooting is mentally healthy. They have deep problems. But it's a range of problems that are behavioral, that are circumstantial. There are things going on in their lives. There's lack of connection. You know, these are at-risk people, people in crisis. And there is opportunity to intervene before they get down this - what's called the pathway to violence.

MARTIN: From the spate⁶ of shootings that you have to work from and in terms of a research sample, what are the patterns? What's a warning sign that we collectively, as a culture, are not taking seriously, apparently⁷?

FOLLMAN: Often, people around a would-be attacker will notice disturbing behavior or things that make them uncomfortable. And what's imperative⁸ is to reach out for help because behavioral threat assessment⁹ teams will look at a wide range of information about a person's situation and figure out what the root causes are of the problem and then try to step in. So often, we're talking about people who have developed violent ideas because they feel as if they have no other option. There's no one thing that predicts whether or not a person will do this, including a social media post declaring it. Of course, that's a very troubling sign. The point here is that there needs to be proactive action. And I think it's very important for the American public to realize that this is not a hopeless problem. There are ways to confront this before it actually occurs because these are planned attacks, because these are not totally insane people who are just snapping.

MARTIN: What does that look like, then? I mean, what kind of interventions¹¹ need to be happening that are not happening?

FOLLMAN: So what a threat assessment team will do in a school setting is evaluate the circumstances, gather information by talking to people around the person of concern - peers, fellow students, teachers, talking with the family - and gathering¹² information about that person's situation to try to identify what they need, then offering them help through counseling, through educational support, through social services. There's a program in Salem, Ore. The Salem-Keizer school district was one of the first to create this model after Columbine in 1999. And they have a very robust¹³ threat assessment program where they bring together multidisciplinary expertise¹⁴ in mental health, in juvenile services, in law enforcement. There are educators and administrators¹⁵ in the room, counselors¹⁶. And they're working together to determine what is wrong in any given case and how can they step in and help.

MARTIN: I guess we don't know how many lives have been saved by those prevention programs.

FOLLMAN: This work has gone on for a long time in many places. And I believe it has stopped, perhaps, dozens of attacks like this, maybe even hundreds of them. You can never say definitively¹⁷ that you've prevented violence if violence doesn't occur. But I looked at and went deep inside a number of cases where there is very compelling circumstances that if there had not been an intervention¹⁰ of this kind - you had people who were setting up for very scary situations, posting things on social media like we just saw with this case in Texas. Had there not been an intervention of this kind, almost certainly, there would have been a violent attack.

MARTIN: It does not have to happen. It is not something that we, as a culture, have to tolerate.

FOLLMAN: That's right. This narrative¹⁸ that we have of resignation about mass shootings is unhelpful. It's wrong. I think it actually perpetuates¹⁹ the problem. There is case evidence that shows us that perpetrators are aware of that specifically. And they're looking for justification²⁰ for what they're doing. They see this kind of violence as a solution, a valid²¹ solution, to their problems. And that may be hard to relate to, but that is the reality of what is happening in some of these cases. So not only is it wrong to say there's nothing we can do or nothing will ever change, it may actually be exacerbating²² the problem.

MARTIN: Mark Follman is the national affairs editor for Mother Jones and author of the book "Trigger Points: Inside The Mission To Stop Mass Shootings In America." Thank you, Mark.

FOLLMAN: Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

3 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

4 deflecting   

（使）偏斜， （使）偏离， （使）转向( deflect的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A variety of mechanical surfaces have been employed for deflecting the exhaust jets of solid-propellant rockets. 人们已经用过各种类型的机械控制面来偏转固体推进剂火箭的排气流。
• If she made a leading statement, he was expert deflecting her into more impersonal channels. 只要她一开口，他就会巧妙地把她的话题转到与个人无关的问题上去。

5 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

6 spate   

n.泛滥，洪水，突然的一阵

参考例句：

• Police are investigating a spate of burglaries in the area.警察正在调查这一地区发生的大量盗窃案。
• Refugees crossed the border in full spate.难民大量地越过了边境。

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

9 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

10 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

11 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

12 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

13 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

14 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

15 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

16 counselors   

n.顾问( counselor的名词复数 )；律师；（使馆等的）参赞；（协助学生解决问题的）指导老师

参考例句：

• Counselors began an inquiry into industrial needs. 顾问们开始调查工业方面的需要。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We have experienced counselors available day and night. ) 这里有经验的法律顾问全天候值班。） 来自超越目标英语 第4册

17 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网

18 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

19 perpetuates   

n.使永存，使人记住不忘( perpetuate的名词复数 )；使永久化，使持久化，使持续

参考例句：

• Giving these events a lot of media coverage merely perpetuates the problem. 媒体大量地报道这些事件只会使问题持续下去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Lack of water perpetuates poverty, increases the risk of political instability, and affects global prosperity. 水资源短缺导致贫穷，使政局不稳，且影响全球的繁荣。 来自互联网

20 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

21 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

22 exacerbating   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• This pedagogical understretch is exacerbating social inequalities. 这种教学张力不足加重了社会不平等。 来自互联网
• High fertilizer prices are exacerbating the problem. 高涨的肥料价格更加加剧了问题的恶化。 来自互联网