11/30/2023
By Karen Mullins

The School of Criminology and Justice Studies is proud to announce a Dissertation Proposal Defense by Angela Callahan on "Sticks and Stone: A Mixed-Method Exploration of the Neutralizations of Multiple Homicide Offenders."

Friday, Dec. 15
10-11:30 a.m.
HSSB Room 431

Committee:

  • Neil Shortland, Committee Chair, Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Melissa Morabito, Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Jason Rydberg, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Emily Greene-Colozzi, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell

The topic of multiple homicide (“multicide”) – mass shootings, serial murder, and lone actor terrorism – continues to attract public and academic attention. Despite the uniform outcomes of these behaviors (i.e., mass harm to and murder of members of the public), theoretical explanations of the behavior have often occurred in vacuums, viewing each as a manifestation of unique psychological processes. However, recent research is beginning to question if these groups are more similar, than different, and if our understanding of each form of violence is bolstered by analyzing these offenders together. Across all offender forms, one area that has received little attention is that of the neutralizations used by such offenders, and the degree to which this can inform us about the nature of implicit, or explicit, justifications associated with the acts of violence. The concept of neutralizations advanced by Sykes and Matza (1957) involves techniques that allow offenders to rationalize their actions and crimes, as well as to protect them from self-blame and the blame of others. At their core, neutralizations are the cognitive pathway through which offenders can justify their harmful actions against others, and thus a key motivator of their harmful behavior. To further our understanding of neutralization, and the potential similarities across this range of multiple homicide offender, this study will use a mixed-method approach to identify the degree to which neutralization techniques are similar across these various forms of multicide offenders. Taken together, these analyses will provide unique insight into the psychological processes underpinning multicide, and the relationship between thoughts and action. It will also question fundamental perceptions in the field to the degree that various forms of multiple homicide offenders are unique and driven by multiple varying ideologies versus similar and driven by universal (or shared) neutralization patterns that are required for someone to commit murder against many individuals.