Firing Back: The Growing Threat of Workplace Homicide

• NCJ Number: 151460
• Author(s): J A Fox; J Levin
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 25 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. For publication in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, November 28, 1993.

Annotation

This article examines patterns and trends in data on workplace homicide, presents a theoretical profile of those who kill at the worksite, and recommends ways in which employers might better respond to problem employees and to homicidal threats at work.

Abstract

Homicides committed against supervisors and co-workers by disgruntled employees have grown at a disturbing rate in the American workplace. Increasingly, embittered employees and ex-employees are seeking revenge through violence and murder for alleged mistreatment on the job. However, the question of whether greater numbers of embittered workers are committing homicide remains unresolved. According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), workplace homicide, although the third leading cause of occupational injury death in the United States and although claiming 750 lives every year, is not on the rise. The Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) compiled by the FBI provide another source of information on employee violence. These data suggest that the incidence of murder on the job, specifically involving employers/employees, is on the rise. The article contains a profile of the vengeful employee; a section on Violence in the United States Postal Service; a discussion of the Prediction Fallacy; Rethinking the Security Approach; the Human Resources Approach. Figure, table, notes