Juvenile Violence
The latest craze? Two boys at an Arkansas
middle school killed four girls and
one teacher in what police called a
carefully planned ambush on the afternoon of
Tuesday March 25, 1998. Nine
other girls and one other teacher were also wounded
in the attack at the
Westside Middle School, located in a quiet rural area just
west of Jonesboro,
Arkansas. In a similar incident in Littleton, Colorado, two
students, cloaked
in black trench coats and armed with guns and bombs, opened
fire on the
morning of Tuesday April 21, 1999 at Columbine High School, killing
15
people and wounding 28 others in the worst school shooting in U.S.
history.
What do both of these real-life scenarios have in common? All of
these crimes
were committed by juveniles or young adults. What is it that
ignites such
violence in troubled juveniles such as the ones mentioned? Many
different
factors cause violent behavior. In this paper I will explore the
roots of
juvenile violence in order to understand why the atrocious acts in
Jonesboro,
Arkansas and Littleton, Colorado were committed. Violence is
not committed
without a reason. Violence is the act of intentionally hurting
someone. A number
of reasons could lead to a violent outbreak. Individually,
the more factors
present in one's life, the more likely that person is to
commit an act of
violence. Some factors that contribute to violent behavior
include: · homes
where parents are abusive or absent · Need for attention or
respect · Feeling
constantly disrespected · Access to or fascination with
guns Each of the
characteristics above can be summed up into two major
categories, family
problems, and social problems. Social problems were
present in both the Westside
Middle School and the Columbine High School
murders. One thing that was
associated with all of the murders was bullying.
Bullying is where a child or
group of children keep taking advantage of the
power they have to hurt or reject
someone else. Some young people are bullied
for many reasons, but mainly because
they will not stand up for themselves.
Having been victims of bullying, Harris
and Klebold were constantly
disrespected. "He [Harris] was going after
jocks. He hated them with a
passion, because they always made fun of him and
they always threatened him.
They did it especially his sophomore year, and he
just hated them." Why do
some children bully? The main reason children
bully is to get attention or
make other people afraid of them. In 13-year-old
Mitchell's case, he was
a bully and was reported to have been upset because of
girl problems
(rejection). Another thing in common with both murder cases is
that the
victimizers had easy access to guns. "...Access to guns is the
biggest
predictor for people committing homicides. If kids don't have guns,
these
kind of situations don't escalate as fast..." Eleven-year-old
Andrew
Golden learned to shoot from his father. Prior to the Columbine
High School
murders Eric Harris would talk of buying guns in class. "Harris
talked
constantly in philosophy class of buying a gun, especially since he
recently
turned 18-years-old." Family problems, the second major category
of
juvenile violence are perhaps the most prevalent cause of juvenile
violence.
"To oversimplify it grossly, parents are not doing the jobs they
used to do
in terms of transmitting values to kids. The slack is being picked
up by the
entertainment world, whether it's television or movies or rap music
or video
games." On the same note, a staff psychologist referring to the
Columbine
High School murders states, "Violent children live in homes
where parents
are abusive and absent. A lot of times, an absent father is a
predictor for
violent aggressive males." As was the case with both
13-year-old Mitchell
Johnson of the Westside Middle School murders and
18-year-old Eric Harris of the
Columbine High School murders. Research
indicates that the one person being the
most capable of changing the
antisocial aggression of a boy is his biological
father. Johnson's parents
were divorced and Johnson rarely saw his father. In a
similar situation
Harris's father was immersed in the Marines up until the time
he retired and
settled down in Littleton, Colorado, in 1993. In both situations,
Johnson
and Harris lacked the need for attention and respect, something that
is
needed most by children at the earlier stages of their life. So what
causes
someone to punch, kick, stab, or fire a gun at someone or even
him/herself? Why
did the treacherous murders of Westside Middle School and
Columbine High School
occur? Violence can be used as a means to control
others or get something the
victimizer wants. In both cases, the murderers
used violence as a way to release
their feelings of anger and frustration.
They resorted to violence to retaliate
against people who had mistreated
them. If all fathers (married and divorced)
invested their time more in their
children, male and female, then juvenile
violence could be reduced
significantly. Also, if schools focused more on the
students rather than
monitoring and detaining them, then the rate of juvenile
violence at schools
could be reduced. Furthermore, if access to guns for
juveniles were reduced,
then the overall occurrence for juvenile violence could
be reduced. We all
need to come to grips with the frightening reality of
juvenile violence.
Because of a lack of attention and respect at home and
school, the price that
we are paying as a society is the de-moralization of our
American culture
by at-risk adolescents. These children and young adults have
nowhere to turn
to but violence. Why should we continue to focus on building a
better and
brighter future without having focused on the real future,
today's
youth?
Bibligraphy
American Psychological Association
Help Center. Warning Signs. Jan 1999.
American Psychological Association.
*http://helping.apa.org/warningsigns/index.html*.
Eddy, Mark. "Shooter
Told Friend: Get Out of Here." Denver Post 20
April 1999
*http://denverpost.com/news/shot0420aa.htm*. Kastor, Elizabeth.
"What Makes
Children Kill." Washington Post 27 March 1998: C1. Lowe,
Peggy. "Alike
and Different." Denver Post 2 May 1999
*http://denverpost.com/news/shot0502a.htm*.
Martin, Claire. "Warning
Signs to Watch For." Denver Post 21 April
1999
*http://denverpost.com/news/shot0420j.htm*.