New Book on Targeted Gun Violence by Professor James F. Kenny is Published
Fairleigh Dickinson University professor of criminal justice James F. Kenny’s new book “Reducing the Risk of Targeted Gun Violence: Proactive Organization Policies and Practices to Address Emerging Threats” is now available. It is published by Bloomsbury Press.
The wave of targeted gun violence in America has made it clear that organizations and communities must be prepared to deal with it, whether at workplaces, schools, hospitals, houses of worship, entertainment venues, or other open spaces. This book helps organizations develop practices and policies to identify, understand, manage, and prevent dangerous persons from committing acts of extreme violence.
Starting from past legislative policies and legal decisions involving gun control, Reducing the Risk of Targeted Gun Violence: Proactive Organization Policies and Practices to Address Emerging Threats identifies the progressive steps an individual takes toward gun violence, and explains how organizations can impede that progress. Readers will learn how to detect motivating grievances, understand progressively dangerous behaviors, set up road blocks by limiting vulnerabilities and access, and de-escalate pre-incident indicators and crisis situations. The book also provides a blueprint on how to create internal Multidisciplinary Violence Prevention teams to monitor and redirect potential threats.
This book is constructed to serve as a reference for workplace, school, government, and criminal justice professionals faced with issues relating to interpersonal violence, terrorism, and threats of criminal attacks. It is also designed for instructor use in undergraduate or graduate Criminal Justice, Criminology, Political Science, Forensic Psychology, Sociology, Homeland Security, and Risk Management courses.
“James Kenny has written an important book about gun violence which could not be timelier,” said Matthew J. Sheridan, of the Program of Criminal Justice, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. “Acts of violence are never as simple as choosing a weapon and then using it. Unfortunately, the violent act with all its sensationalism overlooks understanding the ‘why’ question. Kenny brings to the subject a career which is directly interfaced with violence. He is pragmatic in his approach choosing to be informative, rather than sensationalist, and focusing on prevention bringing clarity to past failures that attempted intervention. Reducing the Risk of Targeted Gun Violence: Proactive Organization Policies and Practices to Address Emerging Threats is a must-read for all concerned – academics, politicians, policy makers, and the media.”
About James F. Kenny
James F. Kenny is professor of criminal justice at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he received the Distinguished Faculty and Outstanding Teaching Awards and served as the criminal justice graduate and internship coordinator. Dr. Kenny was selected to the U.S. Justice Department’s National Victim Center Work Group on Workplace Violence and the New Jersey Superior Court Juvenile Conference Committee, United Educators Panel on Threat Assessment Teams. He was also previously the violence prevention trainer at the Center for Peace Studies, U.S. Treasury Department, U.S. Postal Service, New Jersey Department of Education, and Virginia Tech. His research and publications have appeared in journals, book chapters, and trade magazines. Kenny is the author of Hiding in Plain Sight: Deceptive Tactics and the Criminal Victimization Process (2020).