CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINALISTICS

Inspiring Copycat Violent Crime —

a Question of Social Responsibility
Emil W. Pływaczewski
Faculty of Law, University of Bialystok, Poland
Wojciech Cebulak
Department of Criminal Justice, Minot State University Minot, North Dakota, USA

Abstract. The phenomenon of copycat crime, especially copycat murder, is nothing new. One would
think that, because it  has been around for so  long, somehow the problem would have been
addressed. Unfortunately, that is not the case, as we continue to see important details of horrible
and violent crimes being reported by mass media without reflection on, or consideration of, how
this type of information could be used by some in planning their own crimes, imitating the crime
reported. This article discusses both the media and the law enforcement aspect of the copycat
problem and concludes with the authors’ own recommendations. It is essential that both mass
media and police make important changes in their approach to releasing information about crime
to the public. It is naïve to believe that only law-abiding people are consumers of mass media,
or that important details about the commission of violent crimes that are reported by media are
never going to be used by anybody for an illegal purpose.
DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0012.1708
http://dx.doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0012.1708

Keywords: copycat murder, copycat crime, mass media, copying other people’s conduct

We would like to extend many very special thanks to Professor Jacek Dworzecki
of Police Academy, Szczytno, Poland, whose excellent analysis very significantly
enriched this article.
Verba docent, exempla trahunt.
(Words teach, examples attract.)

In June 2016, the United States and the world tried to understand how 49 people
were shot and killed in cold blood in a gay bar in Orlando, Florida, the worst mass
killing in the modern history of the United States. To say that people were in shock
would, sadly, not necessarily be true of all Americans, because there have been
so many mass shootings in recent times. Rather than shock, we would describe the
mood in the country at the time as a mixture of sadness, frustration, helplessness,
and intense fear that this is not the end by any means — there will be more, similar
tragedies, and they could happen at any time. We look at images of law enforce-
ment at the scene of the crime, and a reflection inevitably arises: Alas, they came
too late…Why didn’t anybody prevent the mass murder? All the police in the world,
with all their guns, power, and impressive equipment, cannot bring the 49 innocent
victims back from the dead… Alas, they came too late, one more time… That is not

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 Emil W. Pływaczewski, Wojciech Cebulak

to say that the police are directly responsible for the Orlando tragedy, but…How
many more mass killings must we suffer? Are we really doing everything we can
to prevent such atrocities? Can every part of society, including mass media and law
enforcement, say that they are doing absolutely everything they can?
Perhaps there is a desensitisation factor here as well — at least with regard
to  a  portion of  society — but we  don’t  want to  talk about that today. What
we do want to discuss is the “copycat” problem, that is the idea that comprehen-
sive and detailed mass media reporting on crimes like, for example, the Orlando
tragedy inspires some people, consumers of this kind of news reporting, by imita-
tion, in other words by following a real-life example, to commit crimes that are
similar to the crime that happens to be reported about at a given moment. A very
important question arises: How much information does society have a right to,
how detailed should the information be, without inspiring more murderers to com-
mit more atrocities? For example, going back to the Orlando massacre, is it really
indispensable for society to know that…

Norman Casiano crawled into a bathroom (…)

Casiano froze, certain the gunman was inches away. (…)
The shots sounded louder. They were getting closer. (…)
Casiano heard a laugh. The sound of “pure evil,” he said. “It didn’t sound like a person.”
(…)
“It was like a laugh of satisfaction,” Casiano told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
(…)
“One of the first things I hear when I close my eyes are guns, bullets hitting the
floor and that laugh,” Casiano said (…).1

Our question, again, is:- is it really crucial for society to know, for example, that
the perpetrator laughed with the sound of “pure evil”, or with “a laugh of satisfac-
tion”? Isn’t it obvious that there are going to be some people who are going to want
to imitate that behaviour during their own murders, people who will be inspired
to commit similar atrocities, and get their own publicity? It is a tragic fact of life
in the contemporary world that there are some people who are so vain and so cruel
to others and so selfish that they will do anything just to get into the headlines
in mass media, even if it means sacrificing their own lives in the process! Not only
do they not care about other people’s lives but they also don’t care about their own
lives, and these are frequently young people who could have done so much good
in their lives. Instead they choose to die because they are totally dedicated to their
evil goals and there is simply no way to commit their crimes and at the same time
save their own lives in the process. In other words, a suicide attack, or — if that
doesn’t work or doesn’t apply — being killed by police, is the only way to perpetrate
such crimes. Many terrorists are a good example of this kind of evil mind.
Historically, the phenomenon of copycat murder is nothing new, it goes back
at least to Jack the Ripper but, unfortunately, there have been too many more

1
Sanchez R, Park M, Witness: Orlando shooter laughed during rampage.
CNN, 14.06.2016. Electronic source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/14/us/orlando-shoot-
ing-as-it happened/index.html, accessed: 6.10.2017.

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 Inspiring Copycat Violent Crime — A Question of Social Responsibility

copycat murders since. This copying behaviour is well documented and one would
think that mass media would have done something about it by now, but the prob-
lem is, they haven’t. In the words of Loren Coleman:
A pattern underlies many of the events we hear about in the news every day. But
the pattern is not openly discussed (…). It is either overlooked or ignored.

The pattern is called the “copycat effect.” It is also known as “imitation” or the
“contagion effect”. (…)
The copycat effect is the dirty little secret of the media. (…).2

We should ask some questions in this context: Why exactly is the copycat pat-
tern overlooked or ignored by mass media? Why does this “dirty little secret” even
exist in the first place? If it’s really “dirty” then why don’t the media do something
about it? Or perhaps we should ask why society doesn’t put pressure on media
to do something about it?
Even former US President Obama acknowledged the importance of “inspiration”
in the Orlando mass murder:

Mr. Obama added that shooter Omar Mateen was “inspired by various extrem-
ist information that was disseminated over the internet.” “All those materials
are currently being searched, exploited, so we will have a better sense of the
pathway the killer took in making a decision to launch this attack,” he added.3

Granted, the President did not say “copycat”, but is there really a huge difference
between “copycat” and “inspiration”? While it is true that not every inspiration must
be copycatting, it is safe to state that the reverse is true: every case of copycatting
by definition involves being inspired by the model that the copycat is using. How
can one closely imitate or copy another person’s behaviour without being inspired
by that person and/or the person’s particular conduct?
Of course, we do keep in mind the informative function of mass media in society
— they are very important in respect of making society aware of what is going
on in the news. Nobody denies this. However, a very important question arises
at this point: Where is the moral line that mass media should not cross, we mean
the borderline between on one hand informing the general public, i.e. law-abiding
members of society, about crime and on the other hand providing information that
criminals or potential criminals may find very useful for committing new crimes?
After all, it is very important to realise this important fact of life: criminals have TVs
too! (or, in some cases, people who are not criminals yet when they learn about
a crime by using mass media, but who are inspired to commit a crime precisely
2
Coleman L, The copycat effect: How the media and popular culture trigger the mayhem
in  tomorrow’s  headlines. NY: Simon & Schuster, 2004, p.1.  Electronic source: https://books.
g o o g l e . c o m / b o o k s ? h l = e n & l r = & i d = 3 B 4 l T T Z E 5 8 o C & o i = f n d & p g = P R 9 & d q = c o p y c a t + e f fe c t &
ots=vfNvk73kTl&sig=1S0gp41Ne8E4SSFUDr9NW9HqI50#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed:
7.10.2017.
3
Schultheis E, Obama: Orlando shooter an  example of “homegrown extremism”. CBS
News, 13.06.2016. Electronic source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-orlando-night
club-shooting-example-of-homegrown-extremism/, accessed: 11.10.2017.

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 Emil W. Pływaczewski, Wojciech Cebulak

by the particular mass-media reporting on a particular crime). They also watch

news, just like law-abiding members of the general public! Add to that another
important fact of life: much crime news provides detailed information about exactly
how crimes are committed, exactly how the victims of those crimes suffered, who
the criminal is, what motivated him/her in crime commission, etc. — and you have
an explosive potential, a real likelihood of more crime being committed because
of crime information provided by mass media. Wouldn’t you agree that it is more
important to prevent crime, especially violent crime like murder, than for mass
media to be super-informative in their crime reports? We completely agree with
Tufekci when she says:

1. Law enforcement should not release details of the methods and manner
of the killings, and those who learn those details should not share them.
(…) [T]here should be no immediate stories about which guns exactly were used
or how much robo-cop gear was utilized. There should be (…) no details about
which room was entered first or which victim was killed second. (…) [T]here
should be no reporting of the killer’s words, or actions (…).4

As you can see, there are implications of the problem of detailed crime descrip-
tions in media not only for mass media but also for law enforcement. Tufekci then
goes on to propose her additional recommendations, such as making it harder
to find social-media accounts of killers, not revealing names of killers immediately
(“If possible, law enforcement and media sources should agree to withhold these for
weeks”, with the idea that “merely delaying the release of information may greatly
reduce the spectacle effect”), and the suggestion that killers should not be profiled
extensively, at least not at first (“We do not need to know which exact video games
they played, what they wore, or what their favourite bands were”).5
Copycat crime is, of course, part of a broader phenomenon of people copy-
ing other people, and the behaviour being copied could be legal or illegal. This
is true, and we don’t even need psychological research or behavioural research
to know that it’s true.6 Have you ever been to a restaurant and a person would
tell the waiter, pointing at another customer: “I will have whatever that guy over
there is having”? Or have you been on a flight where one of the passengers looks
at what others are eating/drinking and requests the same? A teenager recently told
one of the authors that when he had gone to a public swimming pool a few days
earlier, he tried a new way of diving into the pool. It was new in that he twisted
his body in the air before hitting the water, something he had never done before.
What happened next? A few other swimmers had been watching him and started
copying his dive! They probably did it because it looked new, fun, and safe, which
is all they needed to go ahead with the decision to copy the teenager. Plus, perhaps
4
Tufekci Z, The Media Needs to Stop Inspiring Copycat Murders. Here’s How. The Atlantic.
19.12.2012. Electronic source: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/12/the-me
dia-needs-to-stop-inspiring-copycat-murders-heres-how/266439/, accessed: 12.10.2017.
5
Ibid.
6
However, research on this issue is not difficult to find, see for example: Samson A, Copy
That. Consumers Frequently Copy, But Being Copied Has Its Downside, 2012. Electronic source:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/consumed/201204/copy, accessed: 7.10.2017.

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some of them had been looking for something new and fresh, and this looked like
a good opportunity? The point is, some people, perhaps even many people, copy
other people, whatever the underlying reason is. We are not saying that everybody
copies everybody else, but we do think that the power of what we call “unintended
leadership by example” has been very seriously underestimated in contemporary
society. Of course, copying could apply both to crimes and non-criminal behaviour,
and it doesn’t always have to be unintended. A certain portion of murderers do not
necessarily intend that their crimes be copied by anybody, but they probably realise
that copying could take place and they go ahead with their crimes regardless. The
likelihood of people copying another person’s behaviour increases if the person
being copied is a charismatic leader (and/or it could even involve a military leader,
for example Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Jones, VC, OBE, a British army officer and
posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross who led a charge against Argentinian
forces during the Battle of Goose Green in 1982 during the Falklands War) and was
killed in the process. It is also good to remember that “leadership” could be about
immoral and illegal behaviour in some cases (good leader for a bad cause) and
in other cases it could be about moral and legal conduct (good leader for a good
cause).
Concerns about the copycat problem have by no means been limited to West-
ern countries like the United States. Poland for example, has quite an elaborate
network of different police structures in place, with PR-related and mass media-
related responsibilities. According to Professor Jacek Dworzecki of Police Academy,
Szczytno, Poland.

Activities of state administration, and of its components: institutions, offices and

groups, find themselves, in every democratic state organisation, within the spe-
cial interest focus of mass media and, related to that, public opinion shows great
interest in these activities. In the realities of the Polish state’s functioning, Police
are undoubtedly the public institution most scrutinised by mass media. There
is no other institution or organisation which would deliver so much sensational
information which is of interest to society.
Contacts with mass media are an inherent part of the functioning of every com-
pany, institution, or organisation. It is no different for the police, which must also
take care of its image, given that it is perceived as an important representative
of the state. Public relations tasks are carried out by specialised organisational
components, that is to say Wydzialy Komunikacji Spolecznej (Divisions of Social
Communication) and Zespoly Prasowe (Press Groups) which are within the struc-
tures of Komenda Glowna Policji (Main Police Headquarters) and of komendy
wojewodzkie (voivodship headquarters) of  police across the country. Also,
within regional units at a lower level, that is to say komendy powiatowe (county
headquarters), PR activities which many times are related to social imagery, are
implemented by specially trained press officers. Of course, within the press/
information segment of the Polish police, similarly to their other official seg-
ments, the hierarchical organisational structure is binding. At the top level, the
spokesperson of the Komendant Glowny Policji (Main Police Chief) is responsible
for cooperating with mass media, with the Komendant Glowny Policji also being
the subject-matter supervisor of the spokespersons who serve in komendy

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wojewodzkie (voivodship headquarters) of police. In turn, the spokespersons

working at the voivodship level, are the subject-matter supervisors of press
officers in municipal, county, and regional headquarters.7

Does the above by itself demonstrate the copycat problem in Poland? No, how-
ever, Dworzecki does describe the nature of the relationship between police and
mass media, which, as we have seen earlier, is one of the biggest problems in the
copycat phenomenon. Simply put, information that police give to mass media, even
if it is given in good faith and with good intentions, could be used by criminals
or potential criminals in order to commit a crime. Dworzecki talks about the legal
obligation which police have, to release information addressed to public opinion,
which is based on legislation such as for example Prawo Prasowe (Law on the Press)
of January 26th, 1984.8 Could that legal obligation of the police be taken advantage
of by criminals or potential criminals? Absolutely yes. Dworzecki also discusses
the nature of press/information departments in policing, emphasising that when
they were being created, the guiding principles were openness and accessibility
of communication policy, and he stresses that the openness is viewed from the
standpoint of releasing information which is to be complete, true, precise, and —
as much as possible — quick.9 . Again, could that kind of public-information policy
be abused for illegal purposes? It is obvious that the answer is yes. While Dworzecki
does not directly discuss the copycat problem, he does talk about various types
of restrictions in police-media relations, such as:
(a) Before a  presentation or  meeting with mass media, the police press
spokesperson always contacts the police officer in  charge of  the case
to be discussed, or the officer in charge of the police operational activity,
or the prosecutor who is supervising the criminal proceeding in the case;
(b) It is very important that information released to mass media not complicate
the work of, for example, those officers who are involved in operational/
reconnaissance or investigation-related activities aimed at resolving a crime;
(c) Information regarding forensic traces left by a criminal at a crime scene is not
released;
(d) Information that would allow identification of  persons who took part
in an incident is not released;
(e) Personal data on crime victims is protected;
(f) Judgements about perpetrators’ guilt are not allowed, unless the guilt
is obvious.10
More directly involving the issue of copycat violence in Poland, there was the
case of  “the bomber from Wrocław” (a  big Polish city) who was apprehended
in May 2016 and who had planted explosives in a city bus. Fortunately, the planned
explosion did not take place because the bus driver had noticed the explosives and
had taken them out of the bus before the explosion (the bomb exploded on the
pavement, injuring one person). Information released by the police indicated not

7
Dworzecki J, Policja a media. Granice przekazu. 2017, unpublished material.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid.

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 Inspiring Copycat Violent Crime — A Question of Social Responsibility

only that the would-be perpetrator had planned to kill many people, but also that
he copied the explosives formula used by the Tsarnaev brothers during the Boston
marathon bombing in  April 2013 (Harlukowicz, 2016, p.5),11 thus being directly
a very clear example of copycat violence. It is also worth noting that the perpetrator
in the Wrocław case was successfully targeted and apprehended within five days
from the time he planted the bomb, and that this successful operation was made
possible because of the work of a total of 1750 police officers, out of which close
to 1300 came from various operational services of several police units.12
Polish criminological literature contains additional examples of the difficulty
of protecting democratic values while at the same time making sure the safety
of innocent people is not compromised:

Freedom of speech and the right to have information could thus sometimes
be limited due to the necessity of preserving safety and the stability of state
constitutional order. Mass media should be aware of the enormous responsibility
which they have in that regard. This is because as a consequence of their posi-
tion and importance of their role in contemporary citizen societies as “guardians
of democracy”, there are responsibilities and necessary limitations which they
must sometimes accept in order to properly perform the noble function for
which they were created. To recap, the conflict briefly described here between
two values: the right to safety and the right to freedom, as every other dilemma
of this kind, is not capable of being completely resolved. Any a priori theses are
doomed to fail. The optimal solution is the criterion of correctness and rational-
ity, by appealing to the reason and a sense of citizen responsibility of a person
who is facing this dilemma.13

For the last example of concern with criminal copycatting in Polish criminological
literature, let us briefly look at Holyst’s discussion of the issue, in the context of mass
media’s role in shaping public opinion’s attitudes and behaviours:

It is assumed that content shown in mass media is received by a passive viewer

who receives information from mass media and internalises it. The viewer learns
both altruistic as well as bestial behaviour. The viewer transforms the content
he/she acquired from the media into action which he/she introduces into
reality. According to this concept, mass media are responsible for the process
of destroying human psyche and any societal harm because mass media show
aggression, violence, and cruelty.14

The way we see the issue of copycat violent crime, especially murder, is that
we are dealing here with a multi-layer problem:

11
Harłukowicz J, Bombiarz z  Wrocławia naśladował Carnajewów. Gazeta Wyborcza,
25–26 May 2016, p. 5.
12
Sitek E, Kulisy sukcesu. Policja 997, 2016, No. 7 (136), pp.12–13.
13
Kochanowski J, (2011). Media a  terroryzm. Biuro Rzecznika Prawa Obywatelskich.
Warsaw, 2009 — cited in: Hołyst B, Terroryzm, Vol.1. Warsaw: LexisNexis, p.183.
14
Hołyst B, Terroryzm, Vol.1. Warsaw: LexisNexis, p. 181.

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 Emil W. Pływaczewski, Wojciech Cebulak

1. Law enforcement’s excessive cooperation with mass media in providing them

with the most detailed and the most current information on crime possible.
2. Too much crime information in mass media, this is associated with mass
media’s unwillingness to perceive it as a problem or to do something about
it, which in turn is associated with the nature of mass media, especially their
reliance on viewer/reader ratings as well as on corporate sponsorship.
3. The high degree of media-dependence among society, in other words soci-
ety’s reliance on mass media reporting to obtain information and analysis
about different societal problems, in this case crime. In the US for example,
most people get information about crime from mass media, not from
criminological journals or books — in the words of Kenneth Dowler: “Public
knowledge of crime and justice is largely derived from the media.”15
4. Society’s  demand for sensationalism and its expectation of  “exciting”,
“meaningful”, and “relevant” news.

We also believe this discussion of the copycat effect should be conducted in the
larger context of problems with media reporting on crime. These problems are
pretty widely known, especially the issue of media coverage of crime not reflect-
ing reality.16 Unfortunately, even some respected authorities on US policing, while
discussing the relationship between police and media, do not even acknowledge
the copycat problem. For example, Leonard and More’s discussion of police-media
relations includes: the power of the press (it “…has not been underestimated. The
newspapers of a community or city can “make or break” a police department.”),
cooperation between police and media (“It  has been demonstrated over and
over again that through a mutual policy of confidence and cooperation, the ends
of both news reporting and police administration can be served in a most effective
manner.”)17, and recommendations which some people may find simplistic, to say
the least:

Law enforcement should respond to media needs by providing honest, straight-

forward responses to requests for information. Cooperation, whenever possible,
should be timely to allow reporters and TV crews to comply with tight deadlines.
As much information as possible should be provided to simplify the media’s task.
(…) [T]he key is to make oneself available and to simplify the media’s acquisition
of information.18

Not only is there absolutely no mention of the copycat problem but some ideas
are exactly the opposites of other authors’, for example Tufekci, above, who advo-
cates very strict policies on how much information police should release to mass
15
Dowler K, Media Consumption and Public Attitudes toward Crime and Justice: the Rela-
tionship Between Fear of Crime, Punitive Attitudes, and Perceived Police Effectiveness. Journal
of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 2003, 10 (2), pp. 109–126.
16
For example: Ismaili K  (Ed.), U.S.  Criminal Justice Policy. A  Contemporary Reader, 2nd
edition. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2017, p.13.
17
Leonard V.A, More H.W, Police Organization and Management, 9th edition. New York:
Foundation Press, 2000, p. 51.
18
Ibid., p. 52.

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media. In the context of the copycat murder issue, it is very clear that a policy
of “ [a]s much information as possible” would only aggravate the problem insofar
as it would include exactly those kinds of details regarding a criminal and his/her
crime that we have been talking about here.
In conclusion, we would like to suggest the following recommendations to deal
with the copycat problem:
1. Law enforcement public-information policies should be revisited, rethought,
and altered to eliminate or at least dramatically reduce the potential for
copycat violent crime, especially murder. While total cooperation with mass
media may seem very tempting and difficult to resist when officers are faced
with pressure to release information, in the final analysis saving human life
(by preventing copycat murders) is much more important on a scale of val-
ues. Attacking this problem on the “supply of information” side should make
a huge difference in how much information mass media can acquire.
2. In addition, if there is still some inappropriate crime-related information that
mass media do acquire (for example by information leaking to media), mass
media should be much more socially responsible, by limiting the amount
and content of information about crime that is released to the public. They
should understand their historical role in  creating copycat crime. They
should also understand that saving human life (by preventing copycat mur-
ders) is more important than viewer rating or financial considerations like
financial profit or corporate sponsorship.
3. The general public should do two things: Firstly, it should reduce its demands
for sensationalist news, including highly specific information about criminals
and their crimes. Secondly, the public should use other sources of informa-
tion about crime, in other words it should stop relying exclusively on news
media. We would like to suggest developing “popular culture” type of pub-
lications about crime and criminals that would be available in book stores.
They would have to take the copycat problem into account as well, when
it comes to information that would be included in these publications. And
then of course one would have to find a mechanism for “luring” mass-media
consumers away from their TV sets and into local book stores.
4. As we reflect on the copycat phenomenon, we just hope that we will not
wake up one of these days to the “breaking news” on TV that another mass
murder-type of  massacre has taken place an  hour earlier — in  Atlanta,
or Los Angeles, or Houston, or Boston. Or in London, Madrid, Rome, Vienna,
Johannesburg, or Toronto — killing 100 people in a gay bar. Or another type
of bar. And we would learn with horror that the perpetrator laughed with the
sound of “pure evil”, or with “a laugh of satisfaction”. After all, words teach,
but examples attract!

References
1. Coleman L, The copycat effect: How the media and popular culture trigger
the mayhem in tomorrow’s headlines. NY: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Electronic
source: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=3B4lTTZE58oC&oi=f-

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 Emil W. Pływaczewski, Wojciech Cebulak

nd&pg=PR9&dq=copycat+effect&ots=vfNvk73kTl&sig=1S0gp41Ne8E4SS-
FUDr9NW9HqI50#v=onepage&q&f=false.
2. Dowler K, Media Consumption and Public Attitudes Toward Crime and Justice:
the Relationship Between Fear of Crime, Punitive Attitudes, and Perceived Po-
lice Effectiveness. Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 2003, 10 (2),
pp. 109–126.
3. Dworzecki J, Policja a media. Granice przekazu. 2017, unpublished material.
4. Harłukowicz J, Bombiarz z Wrocławia naśladował Carnajewów. Gazeta Wyborcza,
25–26 May 2016, p.5.
5. Hołyst B, Terroryzm, Vol. 1. Warsaw: LexisNexis, 2011.
6. Ismaili K (Ed.), U.S. Criminal Justice Policy. A Contemporary Reader, 2nd edition.
Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2017.
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Warsaw, 2009.
8. Leonard V.A, More H.W, Police Organization and Management, 9th edition. New
York: Foundation Press, 2000.
9. Samson A, Copy That. Consumers Frequently Copy, But Being Copied Has Its
Downside, 2012. Electronic source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/
consumed/201204/copy.
10. Sanchez R, Park M, Witness: Orlando shooter laughed during rampage. CNN,
14.06.2016. Electronic source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/14/us/orlan-
do-shooting-as-it happened/index.html.
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ism”. CBS News, 13.06.2016. Electronic source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/
obama-orlando-nightclub-shooting-example-of-homegrown-extremism/
12. Sitek E, Kulisy sukcesu. Policja 997, 2016, No. 7 (136), pp.12–13.
13. Tufekci Z, The Media Needs to Stop Inspiring Copycat Murders. Here’s How.
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how/266439/

About the authors

Emil W.  Pływaczewski, Professor, PhD, Dr.  habil. is  the Head of  the Chair of  Criminal Law
and of  the Department of  Criminal Law and Criminology at  the University of  Bialystok,
Poland. Since 2012, the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Białystok. His main area
of  research and professional interest is  criminology in  the broad sense. Correspondence:
Uniwersytet w Białymstoku, Wydział Prawa, ul. Mickiewicza 1, 15–213 Białystok, Poland. E-mail:
[email protected].
Wojciech Cebulak, PhD, Professor, Department of Criminal Justice Minot State University Minot,
North Dakota, U.S.A. His main areas of research and professional interest are: criminal law, criminal
procedure, policing, white-collar and corporate crime, international and comparative criminology,
international and comparative criminal justice systems. Correspondence:  Dr.Wojciech
Cebulak, Professor of  Criminal Justice, Minot State University, Criminal Justice Department,
500 University Avenue West, Minot N.D.  58707, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected]

146 Internal Security, July–December

 Inspiring Copycat Violent Crime — A Question of Social Responsibility

Streszczenie. Zjawisko przestępstwa naśladowanego, szczególnie morderstwa, nie jest zjawiskiem nowym. Niektórzy mogą sądzić,
że skoro zjawisko to jest znane od dłuższego już czasu, jakieś kroki musiały zostać przedsięwzięte, aby ten problem rozwiązać. Niestety,
nic bardziej mylnego. Media nieustannie donoszą o brutalnych przestępstwach nie szczędząc nam ich szczegółów, bez jakiejkolwiek
refleksji, czy zastanowienia w jaki sposób taka informacja może zostać wykorzystana przez kogoś, kto planuje przestępstwo, często
imitując przestępstwo, które jest rozlegle analizowane przez media. Niniejszy artykuł omawia problem przestępstwa wzorowanego
zarówno z punktu widzenia mediów, jaki i funkcjonariuszy porządku publicznego oraz zawiera rekomendacje własne autora.
Wydaje się istotnym, aby zarówno mass media jaki i policja dokonali znaczących zmian w sposobie ujawniania i przekazywania
szerokiej opinii publicznej informacji dotyczących przestępstw. Naiwnym jest sądzenie, że tylko ludzie prawi, przestrzegający prawa
są odbiorcami środków masowego przekazu, jak również pogląd, że szczegóły brutalnego przestępstwa podawane przez środki
masowego przekazu nigdy nie zostaną wykorzystane przez kogoś mającego złe zamiary.
(aa)

Резюме. Преступления, совершенные преступниками-подражателями, особенно убийства, не являются

чем-то новым. Некоторые могут считать, что поскольку проблема давно известна, были уже предприняты
какие-то решения. К сожалению, это далеко не так. Средства массовой информации практически каждый день сооб-
щают о жестоких преступлениях, описывая все подробности их совершения, даже не задумываясь, как определенная
информация может использоваться во время планирования преступления преступником-подражателем. В данной
статье рассматривается проблема преступления, совершенного преступником-подражателем как с точки зрения
СМИ, так и сотрудников првоохранительных органов, а также содержатся собственные рекомендации авторов.
Очень важно, чтобы средства массовой информации и полиция существенно измененили способ передачи информации
о преступлении обществу, так как наивно полагать, что только законопослушные граждане являются получателями
информации, пердаваемой разными каналами СМИ, или что подробности совершенного жестокого преступления,
о котором сообщается, никогда не будут использованы злоумышленниками.
(mj)

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