Case Study:
School Shooting Involving a 6 Year Old Boy
Christopher G. Dietz
PSYC 210 D10 LUO
Professor: Jennifer Kennedy
Liberty University
A 6 year old boy brought a gun to school and shot and killed a fellow classmate. The police conducted a search of the boy’s home and found another stolen gun (12 gauge shot gun) and illegal drugs in the possession of the boy’s 19 year old brother, who was charged with involuntary man slaughter. The most likely circumstances that could have led this boy to commit such a violent crime would be guided participation, emotional regulation, and reactive aggression. Michigan state law says that any children under the age of seven are not considered criminally responsible for their actions. The charges
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If this 6 year old boy suffers from poorly developed emotional regulation, this could have led to his shooting of a classmate. If a child is never made to understand that there are consequences to their actions, then they will never be able to determine how far is too far. As children our sin nature is for us to get upset and angry when we don’t get what we want, or when things don’t go our way. Resulting in a fit or temper tantrum being thrown that may involve violent behavior. Reaction aggression is defined by Berger (2011) as, “impulse retaliation for another person’s intentional or accidental action, verbal or physical” (p.279). The goal behind this behavior is to get their way or get what they want. In the process who or what they may hurt in the process is of no concern to them. This type of behavior is our sin nature that we are born with, if not corrected further violent behavior patterns such as the shooting of a classmate may occur. In closing, the 6 year old boy who earlier that day shot a classmate could have been affected by guided participation, emotional regulation, and reactive aggression. Guided participation may have played the role of this 6 year old boy observing conflicts being resolved via gun violence by the role models in his home. If such behavior was observed this 6 year old boy may not have developed emotional regulation, if he were to develop emotional regulation it may have prevented this crime from ever happening.
Overtime violence interrupted youth’s ability to focus, trust, communicate, believe and consider a future for themselves. Children who are exposed to high levels of risk factors are more violent than youths who are not exposed to such factors.
The National Association of School Psychologists released a publication recently called “ Attitudes toward Guns and Violence: A Neglected Factor in Youth Aggression and its Prevention”. This publication conducted a survey to try to figure out the reason for such aggression in the youth culture. It found a surprising pattern that the aggressive behavior in children did not change between the 3rd and 5th grades, but rose sharply between the 5th and 6th grades. They credit this to the physiological changes in the mind of the adolescent, mainly puberty.
We are still unable to fully understand the impact that the exposure to violence has on children. Secondly, when these children get caught in the middle of inter-parental violence, they tend to express anger towards others and society in general. They also tend to have lower scores in social competence than
On February 29, 2000, six year old first grader Dedrick Owens reportedly fired a .32-caliber semiautomatic handgun into a group of students at Buell Elementary School, near Flint, Michigan, killing classmate Kayla Renee Rolland, also six. The youngest known school shooter in history, Owens was not charged for the killing, due to an 1893 U.S. Supreme Court Ruling which states that children under seven cannot be found guilty of felony. Jamelle James, a nineteen year old man who was living in the same house as Owens, was charged and pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter, for leaving the gun within the boy's reach. James spent two and a half years in prison. In this case, it was less a murder and more of a curiosity gone wrong. If you leave a gun in front of a six year old, they are going to take it and tragically in this case he also used it. (Duke, 2004)
In developmental psychology, researchers describe the physical, emotional, and psychological stages of development while relating the specific issues involved in the stages, which can hinder proper development. Developmental psychology, also described as human development, is the scientific investigation of methodical psychological modifications that take place in humans in excess of the path of the average life span. Originally concerned with infants and young children, the field has extended to include adolescence, adult development, the aging, and the entire life span. This field of study scrutinizes adjustments across an
With school shootings becoming a frequent occurrence in our country, we have to ask the question on whether or not the violence produced in children has been influenced by his or her surroundings. Could the violence seen in television shows lead the way to these actions? With these violent situations growing we have to start looking into this issue. TV programs should be held moderately responsible for the violent actions of children because they promote negative influences.
Now the children have access to an endless list of violent acts they become desensitized to the damaging effects of violence. The children think that violence is a normal component of present world. As example four incidents have been occurred in Thurston County in the last two years; one of them and the most recent was here in Lacey, at the North Thurston High School, A15-year-old student at North Thurston High School walked into the commons area and fired two shots into the ceiling from a .357 magnum pistol. Brady Olson, a teacher at the school, was able to tackle the student
Adolescents with all of these problems and aggression have been known to bring on some of the most violent crimes in the country. This is a very scary scenario, as we are still in the wake of the Columbine shooting. Many children are taking out there stress by bringing guns to school; this is a major problem in our society. If kids aren’t feeling safe at school, there is something very wrong. According to our “Searching For Great Ideas” book, the homicide rate among adolescents with firearms doubled from 1985 to 1992. (23)
The research in the journal entitled “Youth Violence: What We Know and What We Need to Know” was done by 12 American Psychologists from different universities. The research population consisted of youth violence. Some ideas that led to this research was Newtown, Connecticut, shooting, in which a 20-year old man first killed his mother and then went to a nearby elementary school in Newtown and killed 20 children and
Aggression is a critical concept in understanding social psychology. Many have defined aggression as a type of behavior that is used to purposely harm someone (Arndt, Greenberg, Landau, & Schmader, 2015). In a study conducted in 2016 regarding school crime and safety, it was reported by their principals that nearly 5% of the students have been experiencing moderate to severe discipline issues (Musu-Gilette, Zhang, Wang, Zhang, & Oudekerk, 2017). Since this behavior comes in two forms, verbal and physical, it can have an influence on a person’s psyche. The long-term consequences of experiencing and witnessing family violence have been seen to have an effect on how a person communicates and handle situations. Family life is a leading predictor in determining aggressive behavior. The interaction between family members does play a key part in the development of a child. Considering children do learn how to behave and react with their surrounding environment through imitation. Aggressive behavior can be influenced by family relationships that can have a lasting impact on adolescents.
Anger, aggression, and anxiety are issues that continuously arise when dealing with Children and adolescents. This issue could be a result of stress, social acceptance, asserting independence, gaining self-identity, and in some cases parenting techniques. Indeed all of these issues are at times normal and even expected at this developmental stage, there are times when the feeling of anger and anxiety become obsessive and overwhelming for the adolescent. Not only does the effects of anger and anxiety disturb the child but indeed affects the parent, who are in hopes of a well behaved child with good grades. Some of the pressure of being this “perfect child” is another road to stress, anger, and apprehension. As the
From the day we are born to the day they die, development is a continuous process in which we grow as an individual and develop our sense of self. The various factors that contribute to shaping us into the way we are, such as our memories, experiences, the way we were raised, even our culture has the strength to impact who we are to become. Throughout a person’s lifespan, there are many obstacles one must face in order to acquire certain skills that will be of use as we transitions from one stage to the next. The idea of moving from one stage to a another was derived from developmental theorist, Erik Erikson, it was his belief that one’s personality and sense of self develops in a series of stages. Additionally, the lifespan serves as a foundation for social development, occurring in stages from infancy to adulthood. (Berk) The necessary conflict provided by each stage serves as a developmental milestone, in which a psychological quality will or will not be gained.
(Zahrt & Melzer-Lane, 2011, p. 3) Glick and Gibbs developed aggression Replacement Training, a comprehensive intervention for aggressive youth. Glick uses a four-step process to teach adolescents social skills. First, he shows them the particular behavior, such as saying thank-you, asking for help, complaining, apologizing, giving instructions, asking permission, standing up for your rights, and setting a goal. Next he gives the youth a chance to try the skill by role-playing. Afterwards, Glick discusses the role-play with the teen. Over a period of days or weeks, many skills are acted out. Gradually, the adolescent becomes comfortable using new social skills, and is more likely to use them effectively in real life to avoid trouble (Glick, 1996). In the fourth step, the adolescent is expected to use the skill in actual situations where he or she might otherwise have resorted to violence (Glick, 1996). Glick 's program also teaches specific ways to handle anger. The adolescent must learn the following skills. Identifying triggers: external and internal events that provoke anger (such as people saying “no” or insulting us [external] and fears that “I’m not good enough” or feeling confused [internal]. Identifying cues: physical signs of youth 's own anger—tightened muscles
This paper will present research from a peer-reviewed articles to explain human development in the context of current trends within the selected topic LIFE SPAN and subtopics of infant care, childhood, adolescence, adult and gerontology. Research is important in psychology as it can provide professionals like psychology professionals, guidance counselors, and marketing executives with a baseline of typical and atypical in human behavior . Understanding the aging process is important to a Psychologist, to do this one must research developmental psychology. The research presented in Lifespan theory has led to propositions and arguments, which emphasize, clarify, and articulate important developmental issues. and the topic. briefly describes your topics, (development involves both gain and loss) Thomas, J. E. (2015) states developmental psychology is the roots of work of B.F. Skinner, Jean Piaget, and Erik Erikson, who spread theories of behaviorism, constructivism, and psychosocial development. The most recent developments in learning theory are multiple intelligences, a theory that attempts to explain the ways in which different individuals learn. Developmental psychology is the branch of psychology that studies the intellectual, social and emotional development of humans. The research that follows will provide a literature review that will address the topic of the paper LIFE SPAN.
When we see an individual commit an act of violence in our society, we often try to find out what led them to do it. We look for information regarding their personal history, whether or not there is something going on in their life that is causing them stress or if they grew up in a troubled family. When we see violence in our youth we often lay blame on the types of media that is being shown to kids at such a young age, particularly violent video games, television shows, and movies. Also, we like to look at their parents to see how they are raising the children and how their parents treat/interact with each other in front of them. All of these instances are ways a child may learn particular actions that they may begin to see as the “norm”