Abstract
An exploration of the phenomenology and global prevalence of school shootings, also serving as an introduction outlining the conceptual framework of the volume. The central approaches and terminology of school rampage research are introduced. An empirical survey of global prevalence reveals international trends and fundamental characteristics of perpetrators and attacks. The findings show that school shootings are a historically growing phenomenon occurring predominantly in modern Western societies, committed overwhelmingly by male adolescents at secondary schools. The chapter concludes with an overview of the contributions in the volume outlining the specific perspectives of each author.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Schülein (1998, p. 96, translated) identifies a number of central requirements for interdisciplinary cooperation that appear exceptionally relevant in this connection: “Interdisciplinarity demands the capability to transcend boundaries and to tolerate transgressions. In other words, to accept that there are other ways of seeing the world and that others may relativize that which is central to one’s own perspective.” Such dialog is worthwhile and potentially extremely fruitful because innovative ideas and research activities can arise specifically out of controversy and interdisciplinary exchange (Dornes 2007). This observation can also be regarded as the motto for this book, which brings together authors from different countries, professions, and scientific disciplines to present their specific perspectives and findings for discussion.
- 2.
Interestingly, more recent empirical research shows that (rampage) school shootings frequently mingle individual motives (such as personal revenge for experiences of humiliation) with ideological and political motivations, creating a complex set of motives that is not always clear-cut (Larkin 2009; Böckler and Seeger 2010; Muschert and Ragnedda 2010).
- 3.
Note that this criterion excludes incidents committed by individuals who are not current or former students of the institution. Such cases are classified as general “classical rampage” (or, if the perpetrator is a teacher or other member of school staff, as “workplace violence”).
- 4.
“Rampage” derives from the verb “to ramp,” meaning “rage, storm, rush about” (Pocket Oxford Dictionary, 1978). Similarly the German term for rampage attack, “Amok,” originates etymologically from the Malay “amuk” meaning “frenzied” or “attacking furiously” (also the origin of the English term “to run amok”). The related Malay verb “mengamuk” designates a spontaneous violent attack on random victims (Faust 2007).
- 5.
A serious methodological problem of data collection arises here. In many cases, the perpetrator’s exact motives are almost impossible to reconstruct reliably from media reports, making scientific quality criteria of reliability and validity hard to fulfill.
- 6.
One central weakness of this operationalization is certainly its broad focus, encompassing cases that were long planned and involved a large number of victims (such as Columbine, Erfurt, or Blacksburg) alongside incidents of violence that occurred in affect and more or less spontaneously with a significantly smaller number of victims (e.g., Pinellas Park or the Campbell County High School shooting). To what extent these different constellations are based on similar socio- and psycho-dynamics is a matter for further research.
- 7.
The following sources also turned out to be very useful: the National School Safety Center’s school-associated deaths database (United States; lists only cases since 1992), the privately-run website www.columbine-angels.com, and the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Information from the latter two sources was included only if confirmed elsewhere (newspaper reports, etc.).
- 8.
2000s: Figures for 2001–2010.
- 9.
Placing the number of school shootings in relation to the total student population further relativizes the findings and shows them in a more realistic light. For example, there were about 11.7 million students at general and vocational schools in Germany in 2009/2010 (Statistisches Bundesamt 2010), and two recorded school rampage attacks in 2009, putting the percentage of perpetrators in the school population at 0.07%.
- 10.
Muschert and Peguero (2010, p. 119) refer to a “Columbine effect”: “a term that refers to how school rampage shootings change the way we think about school violence and security.”
- 11.
Nevertheless, the probability of a child or adolescent being killed in a school shooting remains minuscule. In the United States, as the country with by far the largest number of cases, less than 1% of murders of young people aged between 5 and 18 years occur in the school context (Modzeleski et al. 2008).
- 12.
This underlines the absence of a specific profile of attack or perpetrator (O’Toole 1999; Vossekuil et al. 2002; Borum et al. 2010). Instead, cases must be regarded as heterogeneous and subjected to accordingly differentiated analysis (Hoffmann 2007; Scheithauer and Bondü 2011). Using the empirical data, it may prove possible to develop subtypes or a typology of incidents and perpetrators (see also Langman in this volume).
- 13.
Three of the 120 recorded incidents involved two perpetrators.
- 14.
The age of 7 of the 123 perpetrators could not be ascertained. One was just 11 years old.
- 15.
Empirical findings to date suggest that most school shooters were academically good or very good at school. According to Vossekuil et al. (2002), only 5% were failing in advance of their attacks. This says nothing, however, about subjective experience of pressure to achieve that perpetrators may have found stressful or burdensome. Heitmeyer (2002) points out that adolescents from prosperous and achievement-orientated backgrounds are often under considerable parental pressure to at least maintain the social status of their family (see also Heitmeyer et al. 1998). School shooters generally come from white middle-class families that are lacking in support and emotional recognition (McGee and DeBernardo 1999; O’Toole 1999; Fast 2008). These observations suggest that further research on perpetrators’ family relationships would also be worthwhile.
References
Bannenberg, B. (2007). So genannte Amokfälle. Forschungsmagazin der Universität Bielefeld, 30, 36–40.
Baumert, J., Watermann, R., & Schümer, G. (2003). Disparitäten der Bildungsbeteiligung und des Kompetenzerwerbs: Ein institutionelles und individuelles Mediationsmodell. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 6(1), 46–71.
Böckler, N., & Seeger, T. (2010). Schulamokläufer: Eine Analyse medialer Täter-Eigendarstellungen und deren Aneignung durch jugendliche Rezipienten. Weinheim & Munich: Juventa.
Böckler, N., Seeger, T., & Heitmeyer, W. (2010). School shooting: A double loss of control. In W. Heitmeyer, H.-G. Haupt, A. Kirschner, & S. Malthaner (Eds.), Control of violence: Historical and international perspectives on violence in modern societies (pp. 261–294). New York: Springer.
Böckler, N., Seeger, T., & Sitzer, P. (2012). Media dynamics in school shootings: a socialization theory perspective. In G. W. Muschert & J. Sumiala (Eds.), School shootings: Mediatized violence in a global age (pp. 25–46). Bingley: Emerald.
Bondü, R., Meixner, S., Bull, H. D., Robertz, F. J., & Scheithauer, H. (2008). Schwere, zielgerichtete Schulgewalt: School Shootings und “Amokläufe”. In H. Scheithauer, T. Hayer, & K. Niebank (Eds.), Problemverhalten und Gewalt im Jugendalter: Erscheinungsformen, Entstehungsbedingungen und Möglichkeiten der Prävention (pp. 86–98). Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
Bondü, R., & Scheithauer, H. (2010). Explaining and preventing school shootings: Chances and difficulties of control. In W. Heitmeyer, H. G. Haupt, S. Malthaner, & A. Kirschner (Eds.), Control of violence: Historical and international perspectives on violence in modern societies (pp. 295–314). New York: Springer.
Borum, R., Cornell, D., Modzeleski, W., & Jimerson, S. R. (2010). What can be done about school shootings? A review of the evidence. Educational Researcher, 39(1), 27–37.
Brooks, K., Schiraldi, V., & Ziedenberg, J. (2000). School house hype: Two years later. Washington, DC, & Covington, KY: Justice Policy Institute & Children’s Law Center.
Donohue, E., Schiraldi, V., & Ziedenberg, J. (1998). School house hype: The school shootings, and the real risks kids face in America. Washington, DC: The Justice Policy Institute.
Dornes, M. (2007). Die emotionale Welt des Kindes (5th ed.). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer.
Fast, J. (2008). Ceremonial violence: A psychological explanation of school shootings. New York: Overlook.
Faust, V. (2007). Amok. Psychiatrie heute: Seelische Störungen erkennen, verstehen, verhindern, behandeln. Retrived June 12, 2012 from http://psychosoziale-gesundheit.net/pdf/amok_faust.pdf.
Fein, R. A., Vossekuil, B., Pollack, W. S., Borum, R., Modzeleski, W., & Reddy, M. (2002). Threat assessment in schools: A guide to managing threatening situations and creating safe school climates. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program and U.S. Secret Service, National Threat Assessment Center.
Frymer, B. (2009). The media spectacle of Columbine: Alienated youth as an object of fear. American Behavioral Scientist, 52(10), 1387–1404.
Gasser, K. H., Creutzfeld, M., Naher, M., Rainer, R., & Wickler, P. (2004). Bericht der Kommission Gutenberg-Gymnasium. Erfurt, Germany: Freistaat Thüringen.
Harding, D. J., Fox, C., & Mehta, J. (2002). Studying rare events through qualitative case studies: Lessons from a study of rampage school shootings. Sociological Methods & Research, 31(2), 174–217.
Heitmeyer, W. (2002). Soziale Desintegration, Anerkennungszerfall und Jugendgewalt in Deutschland. In S. Kreitz-Sandberg (Ed.), Jugendliche in Japan und Deutschland: Soziale Integration im Vergleich (pp. 202–226). Opladen: Leske + Budrich.
Heitmeyer, W., Collmann, B., & Conrads, J. (1998). Gewalt: Schattenseiten der Individualisierung bei Jugendlichen aus unterschiedlichen Milieus (3d ed.). Weinheim & Munich: Juventa.
Henry, S. (2009). School violence beyond Columbine: A complex problem in need of an interdisciplinary analysis. American Behavioral Scientist, 52(9), 1246–1265.
Heubrock, D., Hayer, T., Rusch, S., & Scheithauer, H. (2005). Prävention von schwerer zielgerichteter Gewalt an Schulen – Rechtspsychologische und kriminalpräventive Ansätze. Polizei & Wissenschaft, 1, 43–57.
Hoffmann, J. (2007). Tödliche Verzweiflung—der Weg zu zielgerichteten Gewalttaten an Schulen. In J. Hoffmann & I. Wondrak (Eds.), Amok und zielgerichtete Gewalt an Schulen: Früherkennung/Risikomanagement/Kriseneinsatz/Nachbetreuungt (pp. 25–34). Frankfurt am Main: Polizeiwissenschaft.
Hoffmann, J., Roshdi, K., & Robertz, F. J. (2009). Zielgerichtete schwere Gewalt und Amok an Schulen – eine empirische Studie zur Prävention schwerer Gewalttaten. Kriminalistik, 4, 196–204.
Holmes, R. M., & Holmes, S. T. (1998). Serial murder (2d ed.). New Delhi: Sage.
Imbusch, P. (2006). Terrorismus. In W. Heitmeyer & M. Schroettle (Eds.), Gewalt: Beschreibungen—Analysen—Prävention (pp. 487–510). Bonn: Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung.
Kelley, E., & May, D. (2011). Increases in school shootings: Reality or myth? International Journal of Sociological Research, 4(1), 45–57.
Kellner, D. (2008). Guys and guns amok: Domestic terrorism and school shootings from the Oklahoma City bombings to the Virginia Tech massacre. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.
Kidd, S. T., & Meyer, C. L. (2002). Similarities of school shootings in rural and small communities. Journal of Rural Community Psychology, E5(1). Retrieved June 12, 2012 from http://www.marshall.edu/jrcp/sp2002/similarities_of_school_shootings.htm.
Kiilakoski, T., & Oksanen, A. (2011). Soundtrack of the school shootings: Cultural script, music and male rage. Young: Nordic Journal of Youth Research, 19(3), 247–269.
Larkin, R. W. (2007). Comprehending Columbine. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Larkin, R. W. (2009). The Columbine legacy: Rampage shootings as political acts. American Behavioral Scientist, 52(9), 1309–1326.
Leary, M. R., Kowalski, R. M., Smith, L., & Phillips, S. (2003). Teasing, rejection, and violence: Case studies of the school shootings. Aggressive Behavior, 29, 202–214.
Levin, J., & Madfis, E. (2009). Mass murder at school and cumulative strain: A sequential model. American Behavioral Scientist, 52(9), 1227–1245.
Lindgren, S. (2011). YouTube gunmen? Mapping participatory media discourse on school shooting videos. Media, Culture & Society, 33(1), 1–14.
McGee, J. P., & DeBernardo, C. R. (1999). The classroom avenger. Forensic Examiner, 8, 1–16.
Modzeleski, W., Feucht, T., Rand, M., Hall, J., Simon, T., Butler, L., & Hertz, M. (2008). School-associated student homicides – United States, 1992–2006. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 57(2), 33–36.
Moore, M. H., Petrie, C. V., Braga, A. A., & McLaughlin, B. L. (Eds.). (2003). Deadly lessons: Understanding lethal school violence. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Morton, R. J. (2008). Serial murder: Multi-disciplinary perspectives for investigators. Quantico, VA: Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Muschert, G. W. (2007). Research in school shootings. Sociology Compass, 1(1), 60–80.
Muschert, G. W. (2009). Frame-changing in the media coverage of a school shooting: The rise of Columbine as a national concern. The Social Science Journal, 46(1), 164–170.
Muschert, G. W., & Larkin, R. W. (2007). The Columbine High School shootings. In S. Chermak & F. Y. Bailey (Eds.), Crimes and trials of the century (Vol. 2, pp. 253–266). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Muschert, G. W., & Peguero, A. A. (2010). The Columbine effect and school antiviolence policy. In M. Peyrot & S. L. Burns (Eds.), New approaches to social problems treatment (Research in Social Problems and Public Policy) (pp, Vol. 17, pp. 117–148). Bingley: Emerald.
Muschert, G. W., & Ragnedda, M. (2010). Media and control of violence: Communication in school shootings. In W. Heitmeyer, H.-G. Haupt, A. Kirschner, & S. Malthaner (Eds.), Control of violence: Historical and international perspectives on violence in modern societies (pp. 345–361). New York: Springer.
Newman, K. S., Fox, C., Harding, D. J., Mehta, J., & Roth, W. (2004). Rampage: The social roots of school shootings. New York: Basic.
O’Toole, M. E. (1999). The school shooter: A threat assessment perspective. Quantico, VA: Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Perry, T. (1997). Ex-San Diego State student pleads guilty to murdering 3 professors. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from http://articles.latimes.com/1997-05-28/news/mn-63111_1_san-diego-state.
Robertz, F. J. (2004). School Shootings: Über die Relevanz der Phantasie für die Begehung von Mehrfachtötungen durch Jugendliche. Frankfurt am Main: Polizeiwissenschaft.
Robertz, F. J., & Wickenhäuser, R. (2007). Der Riss in der Tafel: Amoklauf und schwere Gewalt in der Schule. Heidelberg: Springer.
Rugala, E. A. (Ed.). (2004). Workplace violence: Issues in response. Quantico, VA: Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Scheithauer, H., & Bondü, R. (2008). Amoklauf: Wissen was stimmt. Freiburg, Basel, & Vienna: Herder.
Scheithauer, H., & Bondü, R. (2011). Amokläufe und School Shooting: Bedeutung, Hintergründe und Prävention. Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht.
Scheithauer, H., Bondü, R., Meixner, S., Bull, H. D., & Dölitzsch, C. (2008). Sechs Jahre nach Erfurt – Das Berliner Leaking-Projekt: Ein Ansatz zur Prävention von School Shootings und Amokläufen an Schulen. Trauma & Gewalt, 2, 2–13.
Schmidtke, A., Schaller, S., Müller, I., Lester, D., & Stack, S. (2002). Imitation von Amok und Amok-Suizid. Suizidprophylaxe, 29, 97–106.
Schülein, J. A. (1998). Psychoanalyse und Soziologie oder: Das Unbehagen am Diskurs. Psychosozial, 72, 111–120.
Statistisches Bundesamt. (2010). Anzahl der Schülerinnen und Schüler geht um 1,3% zurück. Pressemitteilung Nr. 105. Retrieved March 16, 2010 from https://www.destatis.de/DE/PresseService/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2010/03/PD10_105_211.html.
Sumiala, J., & Tikka, M. (2010). “Web first” to death: The media logic of the school shootings in the era of uncertainty. Nordicom Review, 31(2), 17–29.
Verlinden, S., Hersen, M., & Thomas, J. (2000). Risk factors in school shootings. Clinical Psychology Review, 20, 3–56.
Virginia Tech Review Panel. (2007). Mass shootings at Virginia Tech, April 16, 2007. Retrieved June 29, 2012 from http://www.governor.virginia.gov/TempContent/techPanelReport-docs/FullReport.pdf.
Vossekuil, B., Fein, R., Reddy, M., Borum, R., & Modzeleski, W. (2002). The final report and findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the prevention of school attacks in the United States. Washington, DC: US Secret Service and US Department of Education.
Webber, J. A. (2003). Failure to hold: The politics of school violence. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Böckler, N., Seeger, T., Sitzer, P., Heitmeyer, W. (2013). School Shootings: Conceptual Framework and International Empirical Trends. In: Böckler, N., Seeger, T., Sitzer, P., Heitmeyer, W. (eds) School Shootings. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5526-4_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5526-4_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5525-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5526-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)