The Columbine Massacre

During the past decade, America has witnessed a rise in mass murders carried out by youth leaving parents, teachers and school officials scrambling to figure out the motive behind such attacks. The 1999 massacre at Columbine High School was a watershed moment in American history that offered, besides grief and sorrow for lost loved ones, clues as to how to prevent copycat massacres at school campuses in the future. Theories abound in the hopes of explaining why Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 and injured 21 others, yet very few hold true as time progresses and other massacres unfold. Modern-day schools have atmospheres that foster bullying and a divided social class system. The attacks perpetrated by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold at Columbine High School were the result of prolonged bullying coupled with violent video games and remarkably easy access to guns that gave rise to a need to exact revenge on their peers; all of which places this event among the deadliest school-related shootings in American history.

The events that unfolded at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999 marked a tragic day in American history as 15 students, including the murderers themselves, were killed and 21 others were injured. Law enforcement officials, teachers and parents were at a loss to explain how and why this could happen. Thomas J. Billitteri says, “the shootings also opened discussion on the psychology of troubled students, leading some critics to argue that school administrators and policymakers were focusing on truancy and drugs and not enough on the problem of bullying as a catalyst for violent student behavior.” Here Billitteri emphasizes the need to shift the focus from blaming drugs to the widespread phenomenon of school bully...

... middle of paper ...

...the Flies.New York: Perigree, The Berkeley Publishing Group, 2003

McFadden, Cynthia, Diane Sawyer and Sam Donaldson. “Warning Signs Ignored.” Abc News

Klein, Jesse. “Bully Rage: Common School-Shooter Misery.” The Huffington Post April 22,

2007.

*Polman, Hanneke, Bram Orobio de Castro, and Marcel A. G. van Aken. "Experimental Study

of the Differential Effects of Playing Versus Watching Violent Video Games on

Children's Aggressive Behavior." Aggressive Behavior 34.3 (2008): 256-64.

*Reichhardt, Tony. "Video Violence: Playing with Fire?" Nature 424.6947 (2003): 367.

*Robbers, Monica. “Bowling for Columbine/Fear and Consumption: A Review of Bowling for

Columbine (Film).” Contemporary Justice Review 7.2 (2004): 235

*Safran, Elysa R. “Bullying Behavior, Bully Prevention Programs, and Gender.” Journal of

Emotional Abuse 7.4 (2007): 43-67