Stern Urges Early Warning System
Jessica Stern, Research Professor at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, known for her expertise in targeted violence, co-authored an urgent plea, featured in the Boston Globe, for Massachusetts to establish an early warning system to prevent targeted violence.
Alongside Shan Soe-Lin and John Horvath, Stern emphasizes the critical need for proactive measures following the tragic Lewiston, Maine mass shooting, where warning signs were overlooked.
Drawing on her extensive research, Stern underscores that most perpetrators of mass shootings exhibit pre-incident indicators, providing a window for intervention. She advocates for the implementation of Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM) teams, citing their effectiveness in evaluating and responding to threats in schools and communities. Stern urges Massachusetts to heed the call for preventive action.
“Given ever-increasing risks of violence, the state must act now.”
The full article can be accessed here.
Professor Jessica Stern is a Research Professor at Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies. She is the co-author of ISIS: The State of Terror and the author of Denial: A Memoir of Terror, Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill, as well as The Ultimate Terrorists. Learn more about Professor Stern on her faculty profile.
Shan Soe-Lin is managing director of the Boston-based Pharos Global Health Advisors and a lecturer in global health at the Jackson School of Global Affairs at Yale University. John Horvath is chief of police and emergency management director for the town of Rockport.