英美大規模殺人事件之文獻回顧

Review of History, Typology and Prevalence of Mass Murder

本文以英文文獻資料回顧，探討大規模殺人的歷史、定義、類型以及盛行率，最後並討論大規模殺人是否有逐漸增加的趨勢。作者首先指出，大規模殺人與隨機、無差別殺人各自有不同的切入點。大規模殺人曾經被認為是一種狂暴殺人，是一個特殊的文化精神醫學的議題，但隨著西方世界近代揭露的大規模殺人案例，研究者發現，這個現象存在於各個社會之中。當大規模殺人與連續殺人逐步分開後，研究者開始對大規模殺人的犯案人數、受害人數、時間、地點等因素進行定義。目前多數意見認為，是以至少四人受害，不限定加害者數目，連續時問內，鄰近地點所發生的案件。本文也討論了許多研究者所提出類型分類，並且指出類型與分類的困難。接著，討論關於發生數與盛行率的各家研究，一般認為1960年代之後大規模殺人現象並未有明顯增加，但是，大規模公共槍擊卻造成民眾與媒體的刻板印象。此外，占多數的家庭內大規模殺人以及重罪大規模殺人，則鮮少引起注意。進一步分析發現，大規模公共槍擊有明顯增加的趨勢，至於家庭內大規模殺人槍擊案也有可能增加。作者認為，這樣的回顧，對於臺灣過往習慣用隨機或無差別殺人來研究相關議題，可以有對照比較的觀點。

This article examined the history, definition, typology andPrevalence of mass murder, and discussed whether there is a gradualIncrease in mass murder. The author first pointed out that mass murderAnd random, indiscriminate homicide, each has a different starting pointOf view. Mass murder had been considered as amok, a particular issue ofCultural psychiatry. After the Western world in recent years exposedSeveral mass murder cases, the yet found that this phenomenon exists inVarious societies. When researchers separated mass homicide and serialmurder, after all, they began to define mass murder with the number ofoffenders, the number of victims, time, location and related factors. Atpresent, most agreed no less than four victims, no limited to the numberof offenders, a continuous time, nearby locations to define a massmurder case. This article also discussed the types and classificationproposed by many researchers and points out the difficulties of type andclassification. The article also discussed the incidents and prevalence ofthe various studies of mass murder and concluded that after the 1960sthe phenomenon did not significantly increase. But mass public shooting has become a stereotype to the public and the media. Also, familial massmurder and families and felony-related mass murder, which constitutedthe majority of mass murder cases, got little if any attention. Furtheranalysis found that mass public shooting did show a significant increasein the trend, as the familial mass murder might also increase. The authorbelieves that this review, for Taiwan used to apply random orindiscriminate homicide to investigate the relevant issues, can offer bean alternative viewpoint.