Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.

School Violence

Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold

Columbine – April 20, 1999

Why?School environment? Why aren’t we

teaching morals?TV and Video games, AKA, violent media.Guns?Parents?As Michael Moore wondered…Marilyn

Manson?

What should we do?Gun control?Make an attempt to identify potential

school killers.Surveillance?Improve respect in school?

Zimbardo’s famous prison study

The Massacre at Jonestown - 1978

Reverend Jim Jones = People’s Temple settlement in Guyana

Are these normal people?www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSRKWb4LO3w

The Heaven’s Gate SuicidesMarch 26, 1997 = 39 people found dead in an

estate in the Rancho Santa Fe, CA area.They died in shifts, with some members

helping others take a lethal cocktail of phenobarbital and vodka before downing their own doses of the fatal mixture.

Heaven's Gate members believed that Hale-Bopp, an unusually bright comet, was the sign that they were supposed to shed their earthly bodies (or "containers") and join a spacecraft traveling behind the comet that would take them to a higher plane of existence.

Stanley Milgram’s famous experiment

Cassie Bernall

Klebold & Harris

Motive? Extract RevengeCause pain & humiliationJames Gilligan & the male killer = violent

behavior is an attempt to replace shame with pride – gain respect.

The boy code = Take it like a man!Garbarino = young male criminals who kill

at school.

Daniel Scruggs, Meriden, CT.

Virginia Tech

The role of Emotional IntelligencePeter Salovey – Yale University

What can we do?Oregon High school – 25% study body met the

criteria for early signs of depression = groups based on developing emotional intelligence.

Reducing bullyingOlewus – Norway study = 90,000 school children

Community-wide meetings focusing on parental education & teaching teachers to recognize & deal with bullies.

Classes held to discuss specific ways to prevent bullying & befriend isolated/lonely children Cooperative learning.

If bullying occurred….