Don’t give killers what they want: Opposing view
Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin’s decision not to name the perpetrator of the recent mass shooting in Oregon has created a national conversation about how these events should be covered — a conversation that’s long overdue.
As director of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center, a founder of the Don’t Name Them campaign, and a researcher of these events, I believe there are three primary reasons that a shooter should only be named a single time, if at all.
#NoNotoriety has a downside: Our view
We now have empirical evidence that the contagion effect operates in mass shootings. When a mass shooting is widely covered, there’s an increased chance that another mass shooting will occur shortly after the first. This “contagion” effect has been well documented in the suicide literature, and the news media have taken the responsible position of not widely publicizing suicides.
Evidence of contagion is clear in the Oregon shooting. The attacker referenced the recent murders of Roanoke, Va., reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward, and the notoriety their killer amassed.
Second, one of the principles of situational crime prevention is that if you reduce the reward for committing a crime, you reduce the occurrence of the crime. The Oregon shooter clearly sought recognition. He went so far as to say, “The more people you kill, the more you are in the limelight.”
If we know that one motivation for many attackers is a desire for notoriety, why would we give them what they want? Doing so only rewards them for their crime and encourages other potential attackers. The same applies to publishing and distributing their manifestos or videos. Members of the Don’t Name Them and No Notoriety campaigns believe society should not reward criminal behavior in any way.
Finally, focusing on the shooter further victimizes the families of those killed. Having to see the shooter over and over is a constant reminder of their loss. Focusing on the shooter also devalues the lives of the victims. We should focus on the victims and heroes.
J. Pete Blair, a professor of criminal justice at Texas State University, is director of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center.