School shooting
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School shooting is a term used to refer to gun violence primarily in educational institutions, especially the mass murder or spree killing of people connected with an institution. A school shooting can be perpetrated by people who have a mental disorder, expelled students, alumni, faculty members, outsiders, or even regular students who still attend the school. Unlike acts of revenge against specific people, school shootings usually involve multiple intended or actual victims, often randomly targeted. Most of the school shootings that have occurred have ended up with the perpetrators killing themselves and others.
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[edit] Definition
School shootings are typically differentiated from other kinds of school violence. Mass killings at schools like the Beslan school hostage crisis are usually described as acts of terrorism. The term "school shootings" most commonly describes acts committed by either a student or intruders from off campus. They are to be distinguished from crowd-containment shootings by law-enforcement personnel, such as the student protests and unrest of 1970 at two U.S. universities, Kent State and Jackson State, that led to fatal shootings by National Guardsmen and police.
In the United States, one-on-one public-school violence, such as beatings and stabbings or violence related to gang activity, is more common in some densely populated areas (which tend to be impoverished sections of cities). Inner-city or urban schools were much more likely than other schools to report serious violent crimes, with 17 percent of city principals reporting at least one serious crime compared to 11 percent of urban schools, 10 percent of rural schools, and five percent of suburban town schools in the 1997 school year.[1] Student-perpetrated school shootings in North America have mostly been in overwhelmingly white, middle-class, non-urban areas.[citation needed] In some cases, the victims of the shootings were involved in bullying or other acts of violence and intimidation against the perpetrators. However, school shootings in other countries may take on more national or religious overtones, such as the Merkaz HaRav shooting.
[edit] Profiling
School shooting is a topic of intense interest in the United States.[2] Though companies like MOSAIC Threat Assessment Systems sell products and services designed to identify potential threats, a thorough study of all U.S. school shootings by the U.S. Secret Service[3] warned against the belief that a certain "type" of student would be a perpetrator. Any "profile" would fit too many students to be useful and may not fit the potential perpetrators. Some lived with both parents in "an ideal, All-American family." Some were children of divorce, or lived in foster homes. A few were loners, but most had close friends.
While it may be simplistic to assume a straightforward "profile", the study did find certain similarities among the perpetrators. "The researchers found that killers do not 'snap'. They plan. They acquire weapons. These children take a long, considered, public path toward violence."[4] Princeton's Katherine Newman points out that, far from being "loners", the perpetrators are "joiners" whose attempts at social integration fail, that they let their thinking and even their plans be known, sometimes frequently over long periods of times. The shootings seem as though an attempt to adjust their social standing and image, from "loser" to "master of violence."
Many of the shooters told Secret Service investigators that alienation or persecution drove them to violence. According to the United States Secret Service, instead of looking for traits, the Secret Service urges adults to ask about behavior:
| “ | 1. What has this child said? 2. Do they have grievances? 3. What do their friends know? 4. Do they have access to weapons? 5. Are they depressed or despondent?[5] |
” |
One "trait" that has not yet attracted as much attention is the gender difference: nearly all school shootings are perpetrated by young males, and in some instances the violence has clearly been gender-specific. Bob Herbert addressed this in an October 2006 New York Times editorial.[6] One female carried out a school shooting in an exceptionally rare incident.[7]
Other killers such as Thomas Hamilton, a fully grown adult male, in Scotland attacked school children in his killing spree which lead to much debate about the safety of school children in Scotland. Hamilton was not a student but rather killed school children at a primary school. This came as shock to Scotland, as a school shooting to this extent had not happened there before, especially in a primary school.
An analysis of 15 school shootings between 1995 and 2001 found that peer rejection was present in all but two of the cases (87%). The documented rejection experiences included both acute and chronic rejection and frequently took the form of ostracism, bullying, and romantic rejection. The authors stated that although it is likely that the rejection experiences contributed to the school shootings, other factors were also present, such as depression, poor impulse control, and other psychopathology. [8]
[edit] Discussion
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold gained infamy for killing 13 people at Columbine High School including themselves. The shooting led to widespread panic across America; schools were fitted with metal detectors, guards were allowed to search students and their belongings and those deemed a threat were sent to psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors. This has led to controversy and anger from both students and parents.
School shootings receive extensive media coverage and are infrequent.[9] They often result in nationwide changes of schools' policies concerning discipline and security. Some experts have described fears about school shootings as a type of moral panic.[10]
[edit] Notable shootings
- Further information: List of school related attacks
North America
USA
Canada
The Rest of the World
| Name | Location | Date/Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raumanmeri school shooting | Rauma, Finland | January 24, 1989 | [18] |
| Aarhus University Shooting | Aarhus, Denmark | April 4, 1994 | [19] |
| Dunblane massacre | Dunblane, Scotland, United Kingdom | March 13, 1996 | [20] |
| Sanaa massacre | Sanaa, Yemen | March 30, 1997 | [21] |
| University of the Philippines shooting | Quezon City, Philippines | February 19, 1999 | [22] |
| Erfurt massacre | Erfurt, Germany | April 26, 2002 | [23] |
| Monash University shooting | Melbourne, Australia | October 21, 2002 | [24] |
| Coburg Shooting | Coburg, Germany | July 3, 2003 | [25] |
| Islas Malvinas School | Carmen de Patagones, Argentina | September 28, 2004 | [26] |
| Geschwister Scholl School attack | Emsdetten, Germany | November 20, 2006 | [27] |
| Beirut Arab University shooting | Beirut, Lebanon | January 25, 2007 | [28] |
| Jokela school shooting | Tuusula, Finland | November 7, 2007 | [29] |
| Euro International school shooting | Gurgaon, India | December 12, 2007 | [30] |
| Mercaz HaRav shooting | Jerusalem, Israel | March 6, 2008 | [31] |
[edit] Media-famous cases
| Name | Location | No of Victims |
|---|---|---|
| Pekka-Eric Auvinen | Jokelan koulukeskus, Finland | 8 |
| Michael Carneal | Heath High School Shooting | 3 |
| Seung-Hui Cho | Virginia Tech massacre | 32 |
| Laurie Dann | Hubbard Woods Elementary School shooting | 1 |
| Valery Fabrikant | Concordia University massacre | 4 |
| Kimveer Gill | Dawson shooting | 1 |
| Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson | Jonesboro massacre | 5 |
| Thomas Hamilton | Dunblane massacre | 17 |
| Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold | Columbine massacre | 15 |
| Steven Kazmierczak | Northern Illinois University shooting | 5 |
| Kip Kinkel | Thurston High School shooting | 4 |
| Marc Lépine (Gamil Rodrigue Gharbi) | Ecole Polytechnique massacre | 14 |
| Barry Loukaitis | Frontier Junior High shooting | 3 |
| Robert Poulin | St. Pius X High School shooting | 2 |
| Evan Ramsey | Bethel High School shooting | 2 |
| Charles Carl Roberts IV | Amish school shooting | 5 |
| Jamie Rouse | Richland High School shooting | 2 |
| Michael Slobodian | Brampton Centennial Secondary School shooting | 2 |
| Todd Cameron Smith | W. R. Myers High School shooting | 1 |
| Brenda Ann Spencer | Cleveland Elementary School shooting | 2 |
| Robert Steinhäuser | Erfurt massacre | 15 |
| Jeff Weise | Red Lake massacre | 9 |
| Charles Whitman | University of Texas at Austin Tower Massacre | 15 |
| Charles Andrew Williams | Shooting at Santana High School | 2 |
| Luke Woodham | Shooting at Pearl High School | 3 |
| Andrew Wurst | Shooting at Parker Middle School | 1 |
[edit] Impact
School shootings in the USA have to a larger extent influenced American society and culture, for instance the following lists numerous television, film and documentary, TV series that have featured at one time or another an incidence of school shootings or person(s) involved. Since so many of the shootings have occurred in the USA, it has impacted the USA more so than any other country. Industries such as music, film, literature and theatrics have been actively involved in portraying a killers behaviour, adding also to how victim's respond afterwards. Some critics however cite that this has led to stereotypical attitudes being attributed to killers. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold however changed many people's view on such stereotypes when they killed together, but nonetheless the stereotypes are very much in society in general. Many thought the killers who attributed to school massacres were loners but usually had a close group of friends to associate with. School shootings have also had a political impact, spurring some to press for more stringent gun control laws. However, the National Rifle Association and many Americans are opposed to such laws. Some have called for fewer gun control laws in light of the fact that most of these mass shootings occur in areas where it is illegal for private citizens to be armed, thus making it harder to defend themselves. Such individuals and groups have also called for legislation to allow students the right to carry a concealed firearm, citing some empirical evidence that armed students can stop or at least limit the loss of life during a school shooting, and that the prohibitions against carrying a gun in schools does not deter the gunmen[32]. One such example is the Mercaz HaRav Massacre, where the attacker was not stopped not by police but rather a student, Yitzhak Dadon, who stopped the attacker by shooting the attacker with his personal firearm which he lawfully carried concealed on his person.
[edit] References
- ^ National Center for Education Statistics' Violence and Discipline Problems in U.S. Public Schools, 1996-97.
- ^ "'Profiling' School Shooters", Frontline, 2007-03-17. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
- ^ The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative (2002-05-01).
- ^ PBS article on murder profiles
- ^ Bill Dedman, Deadly Lessons: School Shooters Tell Why, description of Secret Service study. (October 15, 2000) Chicago Sun-Times. Accessed April 8, 2006
- ^ http://select.nytimes.com/2006/10/16/opinion/16herbert.html?_r=1&n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fBob%20Herbert&oref=slogin
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Leary, M. R., Kowalski, R. M., & Smith, L. (2003). Teasing, rejection, and violence: Case studies of the school shootings. Aggressive Behavior, 29, 202-214.
- ^ CNN (March 25, 1998). School shootings have high profile but occur infrequently.
- ^ Killingbeck, Donna. The Role of Television News in the Construction of School Violence as a 'Moral Panic." Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 8(3) (2001) 186-202
- ^ The Brampton Centennial Secondary School massacre was a school shooting, which occurred at Brampton Centennial Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. 16-year old gunman Michael Slobodian shot and killed a fellow student, a teacher and injured 13 other students before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide in a school hallway. It was the first school shooting in Canada.Slobodian is the first recorded high-school killer in the country
- ^ The St. Pius X High School shooting was a school shooting that occurred on October 27, 1975, at St. Pius X High School in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Robert Poulin, an 18-year-old St. Pius student, opened fire on his classmates with a shotgun killing one and wounding five before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide. Poulin had raped and stabbed his 17-year-old friend Kim Rabot to death prior to the incident. A book entitled Rape of a Normal Mind was written about the incident.
- ^ The École Polytechnique Massacre, also known as the Montreal Massacre, occurred on December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Twenty-five year-old Marc Lépine, armed with a legally obtained semi-automatic rifle and a hunting knife, shot twenty-eight people, killing fourteen (all of them women) and injuring the other fourteen before killing himself.
- ^ The Concordia University massacre was a school shooting on August 24, 1992 that resulted in the deaths of four people at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The shooter was Dr. Valery Fabrikant, a former Associate Professor of mechanical engineering at Concordia and a colleague of the slain men.
- ^ The W.R. Myers High School shooting occurred on April 28, 1999, at W. R. Myers High School in Taber, Alberta, Canada when a 14-year-old walked into his school and randomly shot at three students, killing Jason Lang and injuring another. One dead, one wounded in Alberta school shooting, cbc.ca, November 10, 1999 This shooting took place only eight days after the Columbine High School Massacre, and is widely believed to have been a copycat crime.
- ^ The Dawson College shooting occurred on September 13, 2006 at Dawson College, a CEGEP in Westmount near downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The perpetrator, Kimveer Gill, began shooting outside the de Maisonneuve Boulevard entrance to the school, and moved towards the atrium by the cafeteria on the main floor. "The Montreal Killer Was a Death-Obsessed Goth", Toronto Daily News, 2006-09-14. Retrieved on 2006-09-15. "Two gunmen open fire at Dawson College", The Gazette, 2006-09-13. Retrieved on 2006-09-13. One victim died at the scene, while another 19 were injured, eight of whom were listed in critical condition with six requiring surgery. "Press Release", Service de police de la ville de Montréal, Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:21pm EDT. "UPDATE 7-Gunman kills one, wounds 19 at Montreal college", Reuters, Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:23pm EDT. Retrieved on 2006-09-14. "Woman, gunman dead in Montreal school rampage", CBC News, 2006-09-13. Retrieved on 2006-09-13. The shooter later committed suicide by shooting himself in the head, after being shot in the arm by police. ""Montreal gunman killed himself: autopsy"", CBC. Retrieved on 2006-09-15.
- ^ Two 17-year-old Canadian citizens, whom the media can not identify under the provisions of Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act, were arrested on May 27, 2007 and charged with the first-degree murder of a 15-year old student at the C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute. Prior to one of the arrests, police had taken the unusual step of obtaining a judicial order to publish one suspect's name and photograph as he was considered armed and dangerous. Media reported his identity and photo, then had to take the stories off their websites after he was arrested hours later.
- ^ Two students were fatally shot by a 14-year old student at the Raumanmeri secondary school. The shooter had claimed to be a victim of bullying.
- ^ University student shoots and kills three and wounds two others before taking his own life.
- ^ The Dunblane massacre was a multiple murder-suicide which occurred at Dunblane Primary School in the Scottish town of Dunblane on 13 March 1996. Sixteen children and one adult were killed, in addition to the attacker, who committed suicide. It remains the deadliest attack on children in United Kingdom history.
- ^ The Sanaa massacre was a school massacre that occurred in Sanaa, Yemen, on March 30, 1997. Mohammad Ahman al-Naziri, 48, attacked hundreds of pupils at two schools, killing six children and two adults with an assault rifle. Naziri, whose five children attended the Tala'i school, alleged that one of his daughters had been raped by the school administrator. No evidence was found of this. Naziri was sentenced to death the next day and executed on April 5, 1997.
- ^ A student was shot dead by a fraternity member after being mistaken for a member of the rival fraternity.
- ^ The Erfurt massacre was a school shooting that occurred on April 26, 2002 at the Johann Gutenberg Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany. Sixteen people were killed before the perpetrator committed suicide. The victims comprised 13 school staff (12 teachers and one administrator), two students and one police officer. In addition, seven people were injured.
- ^ The Monash University shooting refers to a shooting in which a student shot his classmates and teacher, killing two and injuring five. It took place at Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on October 21, 2002.
- ^ 16 year-old student shoots two of his teachers before taking his own life.
- ^ Three students killed and six wounded by a 15-year-old student in a town 620 miles south of Buenos Aires.
- ^ Sebastian Bosse, an 18-year old male, and former student, had fired shots with sawen off shotguns on campus, wounding three students and two faculty members. Pipe bombs that were set off had injured sixteen police officers and sixteen other people inside the school. The shooter then took his own life.
- ^ Four people were shot dead in clashes between pro- and anti-government activists on Thursday and about 200 were hurt in the violence that flared after a scuffle between students at a Beirut university. The opposition accused the government camp of starting the riots and the four dead included two Hezbollah students, who were fired at from rooftops.
- ^ The incident resulted in the deaths of nine people: five male students (ages 16-18) and one female adult student (age 25) the school principal, Helena Kalmi (age 61); the school nurse (age 43); and the gunman, Auvinen, himself, who was also one of the school's students. One other person suffered gunshot wounds, and eleven people were injured by shattering glass while escaping from the school building. The day before the incident, Auvinen posted a video on YouTube predicting the massacre at the school.
- ^ The Euro International school shooting occurred on December 12, 2007 at Euro International, a private secondary school in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. The gunmen were 14-year old Akash Yadav and 13-year old Vikas Yadav, who were both students at the school, shot and killed a 14-year old student.
- ^ Alaa Abu Dhein, an Israeli Arabic yeshiva bus driver, entered the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva with guns blazing, killing eight and wounding seven, before being shot dead himself by a part-time student. This incident, as do many massacres in the Levant, soon took on racial and religious overtones, pitting Palestinians and Israeli Arabs against Jews.
- ^ A discussion of the reasoning behind gun free zone, 2007-2008.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Depressive and the Psychopath: The FBI's analysis of the Columbine killers' motives
- Schoolboy killing stuns Canada (The Guardian)
- Crime Library article about school shootings
- BBC timeline of US school shootings
- Indianapolis Star: School violence around the world (November 2004)
- The Scene of the Crime Was the Cause of the Crime - Excerpt from Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion -- From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond by Mark Ames.
- Dreading Columbine - Sociological exploration of suburban school shootings.
- Deadly Lessons: Understanding Lethal School Violence
- Teaching Kids to Kill
- Chronology of School Shootings
- Held Hostage at Case Western
[edit] Reports
- Mass Shootings at Virginia Tech Report of the Review Panel
- U.S. study of school shootings, "The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative"
- Advice for safe schools, Threat assessment in schools: A Guide to managing threatening situations and to creating safe school climates
- School Violence
