Abstract
This paper describes in detail the explanation about mass murders, the definition of mass murders and the reasons why mass murders are committed. The paper also discusses why people are prone to mass murders and what major causes that trigger mass killing. It describes in detail the relationship between ethnic, religious, social and political reasons that relate with mass murders and why people are forced into killing others. There are also references in the paper taken from mass murders of the past, exemplifying the major mass murderers penned down in history, and it also mentions the recent trends in mass murders as well. The reasons for the change in trends of mass murders are also mentioned, and the paper also provides preventative measures against mass murders. Conclusively, the paper ends with a summary of findings and a conclusion that describes the recommendations for ending mass murders.
Introduction
Mass murders are committed in order to kill a large number of people, either all at once or simultaneously over a short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as an incident in which four or more people are murdered in without any break or brief period between the murders (Lester, 2004). A mass murder also occurs in a specific location, where one person or several people kill others in a mass form. A mass murder will usually end in a manner where the killer or murderer will either commit suicide or be killed by a police officer.
The occurrence of mass murders is not very frequent. However they do occur, and many have occurred in the past and are happening in the present. Mass murderers can include a single person killing several people or a group or organization that is killing people in large numbers. Another form of mass murders is spree killing where people are killed in large numbers, and the pursuers are one person or perhaps two individuals committing the crime (Lester, 2004). Mass murders are equal to genocide although not meaning the completely same thing, but they resemble it in the fact that they are aimed at finishing off a group of people because the murderers have an insidious agenda behind killing such people. In a mass killing, people are simply killed because the killers want to get rid of them (Lester, 2004). The populace of these people can include men, women and children, all people young and old and they are behind any human simply because they have a problem with their existence in that place.
Mass murders are not only carried out by gangsters or mobs, but they are also done by governments and their agents. They are usually intentional and an unsystematic method of killing people only because they forego fulfilling the wishes of a government and its policies (Lester, 2004). These people include prisoners in cells, unarmed protestors and random execution of civilians on the basis of disobedience. At other times, the basis for mass murders is religious hatred, intolerance, ethnic discrimination and hatred against a particular race. These constitute a majority of mass murders in the world (Lester, 2004). Many times these mass murders have been convicted as genocides and are against the international law and are a crime against humanity itself, but there has been no solid basis on which these crimes have been trialed and led to a decent and just ending (Lester, 2004).
Reasons for mass murders
Psychologists and researchers have frequently tried to decipher what causes a person or people to become so exasperated that they would kill a large number of people there and then without thinking of the consequences. There are, however, several theories or answers that can help to explain what happens to these people. The first is that they simply lose the essence of sanity and morality (Ramsland, 2005). In the news and headlines, what appears as an acknowledgment of what actually happens to a mass murderer, there is a case that the killer or people involved were doing what they did impulsively. A person is either mentally out of control or is so out of their self-control that they are willing to kill anyone that comes their way. However, the mass murderer will always be prepared as well before killing off so many people because research has shown that adolescents or adults are planning mass murders take days, weeks and even months to think and rethink their plan before they execute it.
Some people might actually fantasize about a mass murder for days before they go ahead with the plan. Psychology says that people who become mass murderers or those who plan such stunts are those who have faced some kind of loss of life which is irreplaceable, or they are out of work and broke which leads to a lot of built up frustration. Forensic evidence of mass murderers has shown that they are usually calm before the outburst. Interviews of witnesses surviving the
mass murders have shown that prior to attack and murder, these people had a calm and serenity over them that could not even make them suspects of the act. The lack of emotion is an indicator that the murder was a pre-planned and preconceived execution for the person. However when the calm wears off, these people become equally aggressive and volatile; thereby killing people in large numbers.
The other theory behind mass murders, especially those which occur in developed countries hold people with mental disorders usually responsible for the murders. It is very difficult for a sane person, who knows they can get caught and what they might actually be doing to a large number of people and yet plan to go ahead and commit murder (Ramsland, 2005). On the other hand, research has shown that most mass murderers suffer from psychological disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and even paranoia. Personality disorders are also a major reason for aggressive and violent behavior (Ramsland, 2005). Usually amongst mass murderers, a person would find traits such as antisocial behavior, narcissism, paranoid behavior and schizophrenic traits as well. The logical reasons behind these are that given their psychological state of mind, such people are that these individuals have elevated ideas of their own existence; they carry little or no empathy for others in their hearts, and they are not concerned about what might happen if they kill off people in their intentioned manner (Ramsland, 2005).
Another reason put forwards by research is the rampancy and high availability of weapons that put more people at risk of getting killed. Mass shootings are another phenomenon that has a high number of victims due to the possession of guns in the wrong hands (Ramsland, 2005). Where at one handgun are granted to be kept for safety and self-defense, they are on the other hand, used to take the lives of innocent people only because one person or a group of people decide to misuse their guns (Ramsland, 2005).
Autopsies also report that mass murderers are not under the influence of drugs and alcohol when they plan to kill people. Although it is a common conception that people who show such kind of behavior and act recklessly are bound to be under the influence of drugs and they are least aware of what is consciously happening around them (Ramsland, 2005). However, mass murderers are not taking any drugs before they endeavor such feats, and they are perfectly aware and in their senses when they are going to commit this crime.
Mass murders in history
Mass murders are not a phenomenon of just the underdeveloped, developing or the developed world, rather it is a crime that is present in all places all over the world and is committed out of various gains and reasons. Mass murders are recorded in history as the greatest crimes ever committed, and they have been carried out not just by a person or a group of people rather entire regimes and governments have been involved in their persuasion.
History is stained by the doings of famous men who have been involved in mass murders of people that either opposed them religiously, ethnically, politically or just to fulfill their lust for power. There have been mass murders recorded in the period of the World Wars and the military dictators who took over the world and committed mass murders to suit their agendas. These have particularly occurred and been recorded in the 20th century, which saw major political and social movements take place, changing the shape of the world.
The Communist regime in the 20th century has been responsible for mass murders. Death tolls as recorded do vary from record to record . However, the killings occurred in throngs, and there is no objection on that (Jones, 2014). The aggregate death tolls have ranged from tens of millions when added up. However, there have been various regimes involved in these atrocities.
Mao Zedong is one of the Chinese leaders and recorded as one of the greatest mass murderers of history (Jones, 2014). Named as the Great Helmsman he is actually held responsible for the murder of fellow Chinese of his country when communism took over the country, and he meant to take the country to a different level whereby he ordered the starvation and detention of the Chinese landlords, in an attempt to accomplish his ‘Great Leap forward’ (Jones, 2014). It was during the years 1958-1961 when he either ordered the torturing, murderer, and starvation of over 60 million Chinese (Jones, 2014). The country was going through a time when political and cultural reforms were taking place, and Mao wanted to manage the economic conditions and political upheavals in his own manner. It, however, led to mass murders that have stained the name of Mao Zedong as one leader who caused a huge number of killings in his reign (Jones, 2014).
Joseph Stalin is another political figure responsible for the deaths of 40 million communist victims during his regime from 1929-1953 (Jones, 2014). Stalin has been reported as officially ordering the execution of 8 million prisoners that were held in prison due to criminal or political charges and were hanged or killed without a trial (Jones, 2014). His next aim was Ukraine, where he forced a famine on the peasants of Ukraine called the ‘kulaks’ and caused them to move off their land eventually purging his own party. He ordered the shooting of thousands of slaves, and he forced off millions, moving them to Gulag where eventually they perished away. The total death count from his mass murders is recorded around 40 million (Jones, 2014).
Adolf Hitler is one of the most famous names recorded in World War II, the man particularly responsible for the holocaust and blatant display of hate against the Jews of the world. The holocaust is not only recorded as mass murder, but it is genocide because Hitler wanted to kill every Jew he saw on earth and he went to the height of atrocity during his dictatorship (Jones, 2014). Nazi Germany under Hitler’s reign became responsible for killing 6 million Jews, and the victims were not only men, but they were also women and children included. He thereby killed off two-thirds of the Jewish community from all over Europe. The entire stunt was pulled off under the premise of the War, and he avenged his hatred for the Jews by targeting and killing them. Moreover, the killings were the most brutal sort, where Jewish people were chosen and sent to extermination camps, systematically killing Jews by keeping them in gas chambers or using them for medical experimentation and then killing them because they were in a deplorable state (Strozier and Flynn, 1966). The Nazi Germany hate the Jews arose from their pride in their descent from the Aryan race that classified them as the highest of all beings and they needed to redeem themselves as the mightiest (Jones, 2014). The Jews were thought as a threat and a race that needed to be eliminated so that Germany could succeed. This anti-Semitism led to the extermination and holocaust.
Benito Mussolini is another famous mass murderer recorded in history as the leader of Fascist Italy, who, during the War, followed Hitler’s suit and began to exterminate people whom he was biased against and was determined on committing various war crimes against the common people he confronted (Strozier and Flynn, 1966). He was racist and particularly showed his racism against the Slavs and the African race. He led a conquest in Ethiopia where he openly committed war crimes such as using mustard gas on the people, bombing away the Red Cross hospitals in the country, executed numerous prisoners without a fair trial, and he kept children and women in concentration camps, where many of them starved to death (Strozier and Flynn, 1966). The Granzini massacre is one of the most horrid incidences of the atrocities he ordered to be carried out, where every black person in Addis Ababa was captured and loaded onto lorries, then taken off and killed away (Jones, 2014). Houses were set on fire, and every other person was shot dead; so much so that the streets were strewn with dead bodies after the ordeal was done. Mussolini was responsible for the deaths of about 250,000 Ethiopians, Jews, Libyans and other political opponents from various countries (Jones, 2014).
Recent trends in mass murders
Recent mass murders are not exactly of the same nature as these because these particularly occurred at a time when there was no implementation of International Law or war laws to prevent such large scale mass murders. Moreover, today mass murders occur mostly in the form of terrorist attacks, either as shootings or bomb explosions. They occur mainly due to the same reasons, but since the laws are stricter and in most of the countries of the world, the general rule is democratic. Hence, they are controlled and managed through the criminal justice system.
Recent cases of mass murders have occurred in different countries all over the world as acts of vengeance or hate crimes against people. The reasons have been revenge, politics, power-play, religious discrimination and ethnic biases. The Bat Mitzvah massacre that occurred in 2002 in Israel where a Palestinian gunman threw grenades and killed and wounded about 33 people in a Jewish celebration (Friedersdrof, 2014). A similar hate event occurred in 2002 in Ahmadabad India, where a mob attacked the Gulbarg society, consisting of Muslims whose houses were burnt down and a member of Congress was burnt alive whereby the death toll rose to 69. School shootings have also become a trend of committing mass murders because, in 2004, Chechen separatists took over a school and had 1200 people under hostage (Friedersdrof, 2014). Over 330 civilians were killed, and hundreds of school died. School shootings still occur frequently. However, they can only be considered mass murders if the causalities exceed four. A recent event of such extent took place in Peshawar, Pakistan, where the Army Public School was targeted by the terrorist organization, TTP, who entered the school and killed and bombed children of ages 8-18, with the death toll exceeding 150 (Friedersdrof, 2014).
Prevention against mass murders
There are certain methods of preventing mass murders and to stop people from turning into mass murderers in the first place. Many factors are included in this proposition, and it includes the factor of education, knowledge of the law and proper ethical and moral grooming. People living in a world of hate will profess hate and will promote it as well (Friedersdrof, 2014). Looking at the matter from grass root level, it can be said that the world firstly needs to overcome racism and ethnic discrimination. In the world of technological and scientific advancement, these two factors stand as a barrier toward peace and harmony of the world. If the world’s leaders and eminent personalities stand up for the cause of eliminating hate and teaching the world to live in peace by learning from the mistakes of the ancestors, mass murders, and various other hate crimes can be overcome easily (Friedersdrof, 2014). Moreover, they also need to teach the world more about International Law and Criminal Law and the rights of life that are protected by the State; furthermore, people need to be taught how sacred human life is, irrespective of caste and creed.
The other preventative method is to check the possession of guns and ammunition by the people who seem suspicious and seem to be prone to carry out any illegal and criminal activity (Friedersdrof, 2014). The present day world is much different from Hitler’s so to speak, and there are various ways of tracking down criminals and their hideouts. Any such people who pose a threat to the well-being of the world and the lives of innocent people can be tracked down easily. The government of various countries can also ensure the legal possession of guns by civilians, and how many they own, moreover they need to monitor their use as well. (Friedersdrof, 2014). School shootings are commonly caused by guns in the hands of adolescents who steal them their parents.
Also, the media needs to stop glorifying mass murderers. These people are interviewed, shown on national TV, are written about, and they receive a lot of attention. This attention needs to be taken away because this can encourage immature people to follow their path and commit such crimes in order to gain the world’s attention (Friedersdrof, 2014).
Summary of findings
Mass murders are identified as killings that occur in a specific period of time without any gap in between. Also, it will occur in a specific location where the murderer can be a person or a group of people, and also, a government or an organization can be behind the murders. Mass murders are carried out following a specific agenda such as ethnic and racial discrimination, political differences, or social and civil strife. People become mass murderers because of various reasons such as narcissism, psychological disorders, possession of guns and simply the feeling of being in power and controlling the weak. History has records of many famous mass murders which have been carried out by dictators and men ruling in the 20th century, particularly at the time of the World Wars. Mao Zedong, Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini and many others have killed a large number of people during their regimes based on ethnic and racial hatred. Communism was another cause. In the present day, mass murders occur in the form of shootings and bombings due to terrorist and extremist agendas. Preventative measures for mass murders are eliminating racial and ethnic hatred, knowledge of the law and consequences of murder, monitoring the possession of guns and the media to stop covering mass murderers and putting them in the spotlight.
Conclusion
Mass murders are a phenomenon that has evolved in the present day but are still prevalent. They are an obvious and blatant form of hate crime against humanity that takes the lives of many innocent people. Usually, mass murders are committed because people are racially discriminated and hated by those who consider their race superior and powerful. Also, ethnic and political factors govern this sentiment. However providing more knowledge and education about mass murders and the consequences of mass murders can prevent people from committing this heinous crime.
References
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Jones, Nigel. (2014). “From Stalin to Hitler: the most murderous regimes in the world.”
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