Sailsbury, MD

Saturday, November 14, 2009

 We have watched or read about several murders as 2009 comes to a close. Understanding the patterns that underlie these awful events will help society prevent them in the future. Research has identified risk factors for adult male violence. So, what do men who commit violent acts have in common?

Tragically, in November, 2009, Major Nidal Malik Hasan is alleged to have gunned down 13 and wounded 30 at the Fort Hood Army base. Many mourn the losses of brave men and women that day. Sadly, there were warning signs and only in retrospect are we seeing the patterns. He is alleged to have talked about justifying terroristic violence in a lecture at Walter Reed. This is probably the strongest red flag factor in the history that has been revealed thus far. However, the more of the known violence risk factors one has the more likely one is to "go over the edge," especially in a time of extreme stress, and become violent. Additionally, Major Hasan did not appear to have the stabilizing influence of a supportive relationship with a spouse or partner. Also, it seems he was extremely stressed by his reported impending deployment overseas. He was in conflict with others about his religious beliefs and seemed to not "connect" to others. His work performance at Walter Reed has been reported to have been under supervision. The warning signs were there. The patterns were not seen in time to prevent this tragedy. In the future, we need to see the patterns of risk for aggression and intervene before something tragic like this happens again.

Jason Rodriguez is accused of shooting 6 people in a high rise office building in Orlando in November 2009. One person was killed and 5 were wounded. He also showed the typical warning signs of violent men. He is alleged to have had a poor work performance, which caused him to lose his job and he had filed for bankruptcy. Consequently, he was under extreme stress. His attorney has stated that he was facing divorce and foreclosure on his home. His attorney also stated that he was in deteriorating mental health. It was reported that when not taking his medication, he was angry, paranoid, jealous and controlling. Before this incident he also may have been in a mental health facility and purportedly attacked a nurse's aide. According to one report, he may have been referred for anger management classes and there may have been domestic violence in the past. So it appears that Jason Rodriguez had several serious warning signs, as well.

Anthony Sowell spent 15 years in prison for attempted rape and then was released. He was re-arrested when 11 bodies of women were found in and around his home in Cleveland. He allegedly lured them to his house with offers of drugs and alcohol. It has been confirmed that 8 were strangled. Sowell was a registered sex offender. He set up a web profile on Alt.com, an alternative lifestyles web site that allows sexual fetishes, stating he was looking for submissive women. Although the stench of rotting bodies permeated the neighborhood and he was a registered sex offender, police could not enter his house without a warrant. However, some states allow parole officers working with sex offenders to use internet monitoring programs to track the visited web sites of parolees. Use of such programs can give parole agents a clue about any continuing sexually related problems. It appears that at least 2 – 3 women may have been attacked by Sowell, but escaped. His pattern of violence was well established and may have begun long before he served his 15 year sentence. It is not known of he received any interventions to reduce his violence toward women.

How can we prevent these terrible events from happening in the future? We can start by examining the commonalities in these cases. It is early in information gathering, but there appear to have been some typical warning signs seen in cases of violently offending men. These include:

• Past violence, threats of violence, or justification of violence as acceptable behavior

• Past conviction of a violent crime or work related incident that violates the rights of others

• Difficulties with job performance or inability to hold down a steady job

• Conflicts with coworkers

• One or more major stressors

• Lack of an ongoing, positive, supportive relationship with a similar age partner

The more of these factors that a person has, the more likely it is that they need a forensic assessment for risk for future violence. From that assessment, professionals should determine what interventions are needed to manage or reduce that person's future risk to others.

Work related problems provide the opportunity to intervene with men who are potentially violent in the work place. Severe and chronic poor job performance gives employers the opportunity to screen individuals and mandate interventions as a part of job improvement requirements. So, just as one would mandate a sexual harassment class for an employee with that particular infraction, a supervisor could mandate counseling for someone that had poor job performance and appeared to be emotionally fragile or unstable. This is especially true if the person is at risk for losing his or her job, since it is extreme stressors, such as this, that often pushes those who are at risk for violence "over the edge." Someone who makes threats of or justifies aggression, chronically argues with coworkers, and has a poor work performance should be assessed for risk for violence toward others. It is important to note that assessing risk of violence is a specialty and should be done by someone trained in this area, such as a forensic psychologist. For the few employees who need this kind of service in the lifetime of a company is well worth the investment.

Violent men have common characteristics. Knowing these factors can give supervisors, community members, probation and parole agents, and Courts red flags to look for in identifying men that pose the greatest risk to others in the community. The greatest resources and strictest supervision can then be placed into services for those who are at the highest risk. But, identifying these men who pose a risk to others is not enough. The risk must be assessed and managed and interventions applied. Suggestions for managing risk of violence in the community might include:

Workplace Violence

1. Screening of men who threaten or justify violence against others and have work problems that require counseling, sanctions, or interventions. Determine who poses a threat to other workers. Make interventions mandatory for those who make such threats or justification, are assessed as posing a risk to others, and are under probationary/disciplinary action status in the work place.

2. Provide universally available counseling and mental health programs for those undergoing unusually high stress.

3. Institute workplace wellness programs that include mental health.

Community Violence for Those Under Supervision

1. Mandatory forensic interventions to include anger management, pro-social skill building, job skill building, vocational coaching, behavior and attitude monitoring and risk assessment for parolees with histories of crimes of violence or sexual offending.

2. Mandatory monitoring of computer activity of probationers and parolees with past offenses of violence or sexual offending through computer programming.

3. Highest level of services and strictest supervision for probationers and parolees with the highest risk to the community.

4. Routine, frequent, and random monitoring and inspection by probation and parole agents of all work and living spaces

If the systems that monitor men who are at risk for violence are improved, supervision is strictest for those at highest risk, and interventions are mandatory, some number of future tragic acts of violence can be prevented.

Kathryn Seifert, Ph.D.

CEO

CARE2, LLc

Sailsbury, MD

410-334-6961

410-334-6960