Women Who Kill: An Exploratory Analysis of Female-Perpetrated Mass Shootings

Publication Title

Deviant Behavior

Document Type

Article

Department or Program

Sociology

Publication Date

9-22-2025

Abstract

Research on mass shootings in the United States has increased significantly in the past 10 years. However, most of this research overlooks the perpetrator’s sex, largely because nearly all are male. Understanding the role of sex is important for research, theory, and policy. The present study explores the demographic profile, motivations, and consequences of female-perpetrated mass shootings and compares them to those carried out by males. Both quantitative and qualitative case-study methods are utilized to this end. The analyses suggest that while male and female perpetrators of mass shootings share important characteristics, several differences between them emerge. First, males engage in more severe violent acts, with more casualties on average per attack than lone female attackers and female with male attackers. Lone female attacks are also more likely than male-only and female with male attacks to be classified as family mass shootings and to end in suicide. The case studies highlight the presence of mental illness and traumatic backgrounds for female shooters. Additionally, the nature of their motivations suggests that a different set of factors motivate women to engage in extreme violence: whereas men often utilize violence to assert dominance, women utilize violence in order to advance specific needs.

Comments

Original version is available from the publisher at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2025.2559195

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS