Causes Of Becoming School Shooters

When thinking about school shootings names like Columbine and Sandy Hook pop up. Those are the most tragic by far, however everyone always ask why such a horrible crime happens, but no one has never stopped and researched why such hate crimes like those happen. Instead people resort to Channel 2 or Fox 5 for answers, not realizing that their story isn’t the full truth. I am truly against school shootings; looking for answers myself. If there’s one thing I’ve picked up from the media is how they portray school shootings with mental illness, but according to Alfred.edu/teen violence says, “They want to get back at those who hurt them or revenge.” Many adults always struggled to realize why things as vigorous as shootings happens; also fail to realize they are the start of something so tragic. There are several reasons that lead to a school shooting but only five are common.

Initially, for a school shooter to become an enemy to society they have to be raised differently. For example, Adam Lanza, shooter who caused the horrible deaths of children at Sandy Hook elementary, was raised by a mom who lived in a rural area in New Hampshire where hunting and shooting guns was a regular activity there. Adam showed signs of interest to guns at an early age and his mom would buy him guns to start collecting at age 14. At this point in time he was diagnosed mentally ill and he started to be obsessed with violent fantasies. A main reason his mom would buy him guns is so that they can share an interest in something together and bond. So you have to take into consideration that what happens whilst a child is growing up and how they are raised will impact future actions.

One example of this is Columbine High School. In this case there were two shooters. One of them was declared a phycopath and the other was depressed. These two people were bullied heavily and planed this attack for over a year down to the very last detail. The shooters at Columbine “Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were radically different individuals, with vastly different motives and opposite mental conditions.¨ The two kids went on a spree and killed 13 people and injured more than 20. The two first wanted to set off two bombs but when those bombs failed to go off they then decided to go on their shooting spree. The authorities first thought that ¨violent video games and music were to blame for influencing the killers”, but as they later found out it was something completely worse. They later came to find out that they ¨were taking revenge against the bullies who had made school miserable for them.¨How did authorities figure out they were bullied? Here's what happened. Harris and Klebold left behind journals and with that investigators discovered found and described ¨Harris as the callously brutal mastermind¨ and ¨Klebold was a quivering

School shootings strike into the heart of every American. From Columbine to Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook, the thought of innocent young students being mercilessly mowed down wrenches one’s heart. Yet these events continue to happen, and in ever increasing numbers. What could possibly drive a person to commit such a horrifying act?

This paper will examine a juvenile school shooter that killed a teacher, the principal, and two students in their school. The school shooter has been tried in adult court and sentenced as an adult, due to the number of people killed the school shooter may be sentenced to capital punishment. This paper will provide an analysis of New York State laws regarding capital punishment of juveniles as well as risk factors including development risk factors that might have contributed to the actions of the school shooter. Further, recommended forensic risk assessment tools appropriate for this situation will be discussed as well as any ethical concerns that might impact this case based on personal biases leading to weaknesses with regard to effectively communicating result of the forensic assessments with the offender being sentenced to death. This paper will provide details on other states and their death penalty laws regarding juvenile offenders, the reason for this added information is that states laws pertaining to capital punishment vary. Lastly, this paper will provide preventative information for juveniles who intend to commit crimes such as this one and how to effectively assist a juvenile with feelings that relate to that of the school shooter.

Within 10 years, massive shooting seems to become more and more common and hot topic across the news, especially school massive shooting. According to CNN.com, “Columbine Shootings leave 39 dead or injured” (April, 1999), “Massacre at Virginia Tech leaves 32 dead” (April, 2007), “Twenty children among twenty-eight killed in an elementary massive shooting in Connecticut” (December, 2012), etc., similar tragedies repeated over the headlines across different newspaper and websites. School massive shooting is a severe social catastrophe, if we don’t solve this problem as soon as possible, it will threat the whole nation. The cause of these tragedies is controversial and various, but mainly caused by bullying, rejection from school, and mental

Kip Kinkel, who murdered his parents, two classmates, and injured twenty-five others, wrote in his journal, “Killers start sad and crazy.” The expression “school shooting,” refers to firearm violence in any educational institution (Preti). School shootings have become a pandemic in America, but what is causing these people to shoot schools? The top three reasons students say school shootings occur are revenge, bullying, and they do not value life (Gaughan et al.). Psychologist Brad Bushman stated that “violent acts are rare,” and that “you cannot predict a shooting rampage just based on exposure to violent media or any other factor” ("Violent Video Games Spur Child Aggression”). In his article “What a Killer Thinks,” Dave Cullen writes “Do

School shootings have altered American history greatly over the past two decades. From 1997 to 2007, there have been more than 40 school shootings, resulting in over 70 deaths and many more injuries. School shoot-outs have been increasing in number dramatically in the past 20 years. There are no boundaries as to how old the child would be, or how many people they may kill or injure. At Mount Morris Township, Michigan, on February 29th, 2000, there was a 6 year old boy who shot and killed another 6 year old girl at the Buell Elementary School with a .32 caliber pistol. And although many shootings have occurred at High Schools or Middle Schools, having more guns on those campuses would not be a good environment for children to grow up in.

April 20th, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went to their school in Littleton, CO. They preceded to kill 12 and injure 21 students and faculty before killing themselves. Columbine shooting is infamous as one of the worst school shootings in US history. Harris and Klebold were known as outcasts and were ridiculed regularly. It has been said that they were out for revenge on the school for being mistreated (New York Daily). This extreme case is the cause of a broken psyche due to repeated blows from peers. “Harassment and bullying have been linked to 75% of school-shooting incidents” (Statistics). Not every case will lead to a mass shooting, but is more plausible to lead to suicide. Teenagers are taking their own lives, because they can

Since 1764, the United States has faced the tragedies of school shootings. Since 1982, 148 people have died and 181 people have been injured in school shootings alone. (Statista). I chose to examine three of the most tragic shootings that have happened in the U.S. and will examine the causes and what lead up to the massacres through examination of sources.

There has been an average of one school shooting every week in America since the Sandy Hook shooting. On the fourteenth of December, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, 20-year-old Adam Lanza not only killed his mother in her home, but also twenty children and six members of staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. This was to be the third deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The Huffington Post reports that as of 2014, there have been over 200 school shootings. These have resulted in at least 94 deaths and over 156 serious and minor injuries. And, with an issue as emotive and contentious as the murder of school children, the question has been frequently asked: why do school shootings happen?

It is without a doubt that there has been an increase in violent crimes in schools throughout recent years. School shootings continue to become more and more common, especially in North America. Safety concerns for any and all students and staff in schools are at all all time high due to the high number of fatal and non-fatal occurring incidences. Since 2013 to the present, it is estimated that the United States has seen approximately 205 school shootings. Weekly, that is a shocking one shooting on average. Many of these shootings have resulted in the injuries and deaths of multiple of students and staff members. (Everytown Research, 2017) Evidently, school shootings are tragic events that affect so many more people than just the victims. However, these events are also interesting to look at from the psychological and sociological point of views. Through much research, it can be concluded that school shootings are a complex problem that are caused by a mix of improper brain development and societal and media influences which motivate school shooters to emerge. Psychological factors may include struggling with mental illnesses and/or abuse that leads to damaged brain development. Additionally, being bullied and/or the role of the media are examples of sociological factors.

Some of the personal risk factors that can lead to school violence are attention deficits, hyperactivity or learning disorder; history of aggressive behavior; association with delinquent peers.5 Evidence has suggested that mental illness or mental health symptoms are nearly universal among school shooters.6 An example of this would be a Virginia Tech student named Seung Hui Cho who shot and killed thirty two staff members and students. He was diagnosed with depression and anxiety after he committed suicide. A 2002 report by the U.S. secret service and department of education found evidence that the majority of school shooters that were mentally ill had not received any help.7 School shooters who are mentally ill tend to blame others for their problems. They also felt like failures in their lives and envied their peers who were happier and more successful than they

Few things are as hard to imagine as the tragedy of a school shooting. On April 20, 1999, twelve students and one teacher were shot and killed at Columbine High School. That’s almost twice as many students as this class has. The attackers, Dylan Klebold and and Eric Harris were both seventeen years old. The teens had their friend, Robyn Anderson (who was 18 years old at the time), help them obtain the weapons.

Unfortunately, school shootings and threats have become more common throughout the past 18 years. One of the first major school shootings that brought attention to gun violence in America was the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999. According to the U.S. History website state that two teens, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, went on a shooting spree throughout the school. After killing 12 students and one teacher, the boys then killed themselves. During the investigation on the boys motives, investigators came to the conclusion that most likely the shooting was connected to bullying because the boys were members of social outcast groups, and violence in video games. It is unfortunate that bullying may have been the cause of this awful event in history, but it is even more upsetting that school shootings like these, have happened again at an even worse