Fatal Grievances: Forecasting and Preventing Active Killer Threats in School, Campus, and Workplace Settings

Active killer attacks frequently dominate the headlines with stories of seemingly random mass killings in school, campus, and workplace settings. Nearly all of the attacks are over before the police can respond, leaving unanswered questions as to why these attacks happen and what can be done to prevent them. Fatal Grievances: Forecasting and Preventing Active Killer Threats in School, Campus, and Workplace Settings takes a proactive view of active killer threat management and resolution to prevent the attack before it occurs.

Drawing from established threat assessment, behavioral analysis, and law enforcement negotiation theory and practice, the book presents models and methods designed to forecast and prevent an active killer attack through the process of identification, assessment, and engagement. This approach begins with definitions and orientations to violence, the importance of the primacy of focusing on direct behaviors of planned lethal violence over other more indirect behaviors, understanding how to identify a fatal grievance and that only fatal grievances result in planned lethal violence, the importance of understanding the process of crisis intervention as the key to eliminating the fatal grievance and the motivation to kill, and the use of time-series predictive behavioral threat forecasting methods to prevent an active killer attack. Case studies from within the United States (US) and abroad support this unique approach to threat assessment and make the concepts and principles accessible to professionals working in the fields of education, human resources, and security.

Gregory M. Vecchi earned a B.S. in Management/Human Resources from Park University, Parkville, Missouri, an M.S. in Criminal Justice from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He currently serves as a Professor of Criminal Justice and Homeland Security at Keiser University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and he is the Principal of VGI Consulting and Training. Dr. Vecchi has over 30 years of law enforcement experience. Dr. Vecchi formerly served as the Chief of the FBI Behavioral Science Unit and career FBI negotiator. In these positions, he gained extensive experience assessing and interacting with violent offenders, as well as researching, training, and conducting threat assessments. Dr. Vecchi has conducted dozens of workplace threat assessments for Fortune 500 companies.

Mary Ann Markey received a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Psychology from Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, and Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida while continuing to conduct research on intra-family violence and homicide, mass murder, and serial murder.

Jeffrey A. Daniels earned a B.A. in Psychology at Metropolitan State University, Denver, Colorado, an M.S. in Counseling Psychology from Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington, and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska. He is currently a professor in the School of Counseling and Well-Being at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. Dr. Daniels has been engaged in research pertaining to violence and violence prevention for over 23 years and he has engaged in collaborative research with the FBI for over 16 years using Perpetrator-Motive Research Design.