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….