Student Presenter(s): Joseph Keller, Aracelis Genao, Ryan Decristoforo, Genesis Benito
Faculty Mentor: Andrew Costello
Department: Criminal Justice
School/College: College of Arts and Sciences, Long Island

Perception of race may affect how people define the motive and definition of a crime. This may be more pronounced for crimes involving deaths of human beings. For example, the Boston Marathon bombing was a tragic event that hurt many individuals and emotions drove people to believe the event was a terrorist attack. The Las Vegas shooting was another terrible incident where some people considered it to be terrorism while others considered it to be a mass shooting. The shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida was officially classified as a mass shooting. How could similar shooting events involving the death of more than four people, possible motives related to hate group or terrorist ideology, and actions involving the injury and death of coworkers by firearms be perceived or defined differently?

To answer this question, this study will look into whether perceptions of race will define an incident as either a mass shooting incident, terrorist attack, or workplace violence. Identical surveys will be given to college students about the same incident with the only difference being the photo and name of the offender. Students will classify the incident as a type of crime and answer other demographic questions in the hope of determining if race, gender, or ethnicity is a factor in perceptions of defining the criminal incident.