Ahead of this year’s memorial service that honored the lives of the 2018 Hot Yoga shooting victims, a research and policy symposium was held at Florida State University around the topic of hate-fueled violence — the issue that led to the tragedy that rocked the capital city.
The event highlighted the progress that has been made and the work currently taking place in research to drive more effective policy when it comes to hate crimes.
The event also marked five years since the Nov. 2, 2018, Tallahassee shooting took place, where five were injured and two lives — Maura Binkley and Nancy Van Vessem — were taken after a gunman with a long history of hatred against women opened fire in a local yoga studio.
More on the 2018 shooting:‘Senseless act’: Gunman posed as customer before opening fire at Tallahassee yoga studio
Related news:FSU to hold symposium, memorial service on five-year mark of yoga studio shooting
“Any hate crime against any one of us is a crime against all of us,” said Jeff Binkley, Maura’s father and founder of the Maura’s Voice research foundation.
While FSU President Emeritus John Thrasher was previously scheduled to be a panelist during the symposium, he spoke during the memorial service that followed instead.
“This shooting affected all of us and impacted FSU,” Thrasher said. “We have had other events similar to this, but nothing as horrific as this.”
“We cannot possibly know the depths of your grief, but we hope you can feel the outpouring of love and support that continues after five years and will continue,” he told the victims’ loved ones.
Within the university, Provost and Executive Vice President Jim Clark — who was a research panelist during the symposium — said he and a team are developing a FSU Forensic Behavioral Health Certification, which will be a nondegree, specialized training that involves topics such as threat assessments and understanding how to evaluate clients who could potentially be on a path to violence.
Funding from the Maura’s Voice Research Fund has been used as seed money for the certification, and Clark says he hopes the program will be ready in April or May of next year.
“This is an innovative approach,” Clark said. “We have a team of professionals from all over the country contributing to it, and I can guarantee you that it will be the best certification program in the United States.”
Although specific legislation is not being proposed by the university regarding hate-fueled violence, FSU is focused on scholarship and research to fill knowledge gaps that will help move interventions and policies forward, according to Clark.
“I think that’s where we can make the best contributions,” he said.
FSU has also been working on research through partnerships with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a leading anti-hate organization.
“While there have been setbacks in certain types of interventions and legislation, there are many things that are beginning to work in Florida,” Clark said. “I’m seeing red flag laws being enforced more aggressively and threat assessments being taken more seriously, which were not the case a few years ago.”
Patrick Crough, program director of FDLE’s Targeted Violence Prevention Program, was one of the speakers on the symposium’s policy panel and explained how he set up a multidisciplinary team approach across all of Florida’s regions as a statewide method of addressing hate-fueled violence.
The approach involves the collaboration of local colleges and universities in each region since most clients who are on the pathway to violence are between the ages of 15 and 25, according to Crough.
“As soon as we realize we have somebody who’s exhibiting a behavior, or making statements, we want to get in front of that person,” Crough said. “We treat the root of the problem.”
As the years continue to pass by after the 2018 shooting, advocacy continues to take place through Maura’s Voice along with the relatively new “Florida State United: One Voice Against Hate” university initiative, with both projects bringing more awareness to hate-fueled violence while conducting research and educating others about prevention and intervention.
“Action inspired by love is more powerful overtime than any action inspired by hate,” Binkley said. “Hate is shallow. Love is deep.”
Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on twitter @tarahjean_.
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