In the past several years, there have been many instances of violent acts (including murder) occurring throughout the United States. Littleton, Colorado; Springfield, Oregon; Edinboro, Pennsylvania; and West Paducah, Kentucky are just a few of the small towns that have been hit by such a tragic event. Due to the fact that all of these are small towns, students, parents, and communities alike are realizing that no town is really safe . . . an outbreak of school violence can happen anywhere. Were any of these children showing any warning signs? Are there any factors that parents and teachers could consider when dealing with a “problem child”? What measures should communities take in order to prevent a shooting from happening in the future? In the wake of an increased awareness in school violence, it is essential to determine some factors that can contribute to violent behavior, why school violence occurs, and also violence prevention tactics in order to prevent future occurrences of violence from happening in school.There has been a lot of discussion on what the typical “child murderer” is like. Many people think that there is a stereotype of a kid that would have violent tendencies. In the most recent school shootings, the killers weren’t all drug addicts or loners. Some of them were intelligent, young people. One of the kids was a “straight A” student. Yet another had a lot of friends, and was active in School Violence 3school activities. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two students who opened fire at Columbine High School were the killers who were the most discussed throughout the press. They had been involved in a group called the “Trenchcoat Mafia.” They were noted as being outcasts, with a lot of other kids in school making fun of them. When interviewed after the violence occurred, many of these shootists admit that they don’t know what drove them to do...
