Cause & Effect of Columbine Shooting

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold changed the way schools handle threat precautions. The secrets they left us; the boys being outcasts, bullies, and the trench coat mafia, leave us with a horrible tragedy to deal with. Which are just some of the proven myths in the shooting of Columbine.

It was 11:19 am when the first set of gunshots pierced through the walls of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. In 49 short minutes, two high school seniors, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 12 students and 1 teacher, and then killed themselves. Months prior, the pair planned out the attacks in a series of journal entries and video diaries. The attack at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999 raised many questions; the biggest one being, why did they do it? While the common media misconception is that the Columbine shooting was a war against jocks and outcasts, the shooting was actually perpetuated by psychopathy and depression in the shooters.

day two seniors Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris carried out a full blown assault on the school during school hours with hundreds of kids and teachers present” (Levy, 1999). These two had a plan to kill as many people as they possibly could. They had multiple guns and explosives as they patrolled the halls looking for their victims. By the time the situation was resolved they had murdered 12 students and 1 teacher before they killed themselves.

The next theory is categorized as a less-modern perspective as it goes all the way back to the Victorian Era. This approach is based on Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychodynamic, which focuses on the role of the unconscious mind and its influence on conscious behavior, early childhood experiences, development of sense of self, and other motivations. (Ciccarelli, 2012). In other words, this theory states that humans have an unconscious mind in which we repress all of our threatening urges and desires into. In effect of repressing urges, it creates nervous disorders. This approach greatly stresses the importance of early childhood experiences. I firmly believe that both boys, especially Klebold, repressed their urges and thoughts which created a dramatic lash-out. According to New York Times, Klebold had come from a very well educated family that had very high expectations for him. His childhood had been constricted to studying and since he was exposed to such lifestyle at such a young age, he grew accustomed to better his education. Kleboid showed no obvious signs of danger to his family, as he valued how he appeared to his parents. However though, he had a great drinking problem which caused major aggression. Harris, Klebold’s good friend, was greatly interested in creating bombs. His childhood was not like Klebold’s—his family was not as forceful of his studies, or close.

School shooters usually do not plan on getting away with the crime because the shooter has adopted a kill or be killed attitude and as such, is willing to take one’s own life. The third element of the social bond theory involvement. Harris and Klebold, spent a substantial amount of time involved in a lot of illegal online activities that included searching for information as to how to make pipe bombs and other explosives. Revenge is a motive in more than 50% of the school attacks because the offenders believed that retaliation is the only way to get revenge for the wrongful behaviors and actions of others, some investigators believed that the Columbine Shooting was out of revenge, and others believed that Harris and Klebold just had severe mental issues. The last element is belief. Belief is a common value system within a culture. Belief plays a role in deviance in two ways, the criminal either neglects the moral beliefs they have been taught, or justifies their deviant behavior beliefs so that they can engage in criminal activity, while still believing it’s wrong. Harris and Klebold belief was a mix of both, they disregarded the social norms of society and they justified their belief even though they knew it was wrong. A tape left behind showed footage of the boys confessing they wrong doing and how devastated their parents would be, but still followed through

April 20, 1999, is a day of remembrance for many people. The Columbine massacre had an effect not only on the Littleton, Colorado community but also on the entire country. In the book Columbine by Dave Cullen, the author tells the story of the tragedy that started with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The book begins with an introduction into both Eric and Dylan's thoughts, actions, and reasoning behind their plan to attack their high school. Throughout the book the author points out how the media gave a different view for the motives of the attack which caused false accusations towards the killers. This book tells the truth told from survivors and evidence, but the honest truth behind the attack went to the grave with Eric and

Columbine High School Shooting: Why did Columbine occur and what can be learned from it?

Bullying is a serious problem with the potential of lasting effects. The two boys were planning an attack on the bullies that had made school miserable for them. “they were members of a group of social outcasts called the Trenchcoat Mafia that was fascinated by Goth culture.”( History.com Staff. "Columbine High School Shootings." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 20 Sept. 2017.) Klebold and Harris initially carried out the shooting as a retaliation for the miserable years in

On April 20th 1999, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris committed a planned mass murder at their high school killing 13 people and injuring 20 in just an hour (XxSlenderMotorX, 2012). They planted bombs throughout the school, but they did not detonate. Sadly, they also took guns to kill people, so even when the bombs did not go off they were able to go through with their act. There original goal was to kill plenty more people than they did. They wrote journals and claimed to want to be like the LA Riots, the Oklahoma Bombing, Vietnam, etc (XxSlenderMotorX, 2012).. They named there desired massacre after a movie called Named Born Killer or NBK, they felt like they related to these boys in the movie and felt superior to their other students (XxSlenderMotorX, 2012). Sadly, a lot of their problem stemmed from kids not letting the boys participate in social events. These boys felt shut out and unwanted, but also felt better than anyone else. In the end, Dylan and Eric also ended up killing themselves. So, who were these boys and what potentially caused them to attack their school?

Massacre at Columbine (140 points) 1. Where did the Massacre occur? (1 point) The Columbine High School massacre was at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. 2.

The link between school violence and bullying has increased in attraction exponentially after the Columbine shooting. “The shooters were classified as gifted children who had allegedly been victims of bullying for four years.” Many of those who are close to them regarded them as “the losers of the losers (Ball)”. Klebold has also made remarks to his father about his hatred toward the jock culture in his high school. He added that Harris had been victimized by the jocks by stating to his father “They sure give Eric hell.” There is no doubt this helped drive them to the decision they made.

The Columbine shooting is known as the bloodiest, also the deadliest school shooting in U.S history. On April 20, 1999 twelve teenagers, also one adult were killed in a massive school shooting. Dylan Klebold a seventeen year old and Eric Harris a eighteen year old were students at Columbine High School in Colorado. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were arrested in January 1998 for stealing items in a van. In March 1998 Harris threatened Brooks Brown to kill him and would love to kill people. Columbine shooting greatly impacted America due to the price of firearms and movement to firearms school safety was an issue and made schools safer with more enforced rules and safety hazards, people culturally started to become more feared.

history and prompted a national debate on gun control and school safety, as well as a major investigation to determine what motivated the gunmen, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17” (History.com) She noticed how her entire neighborhood was under this umbrella of stress and concern. She talks about how Mrs. Louis didn't hear from her daughter for two days. One can only imagine how stressed and worried everyone in that family was. With being in such a stressful environment, Lisa did not give specifics on what she and the others did while waiting for news on the grandchildren of Mrs.Louis, but she did give me some information “You know, it’s a very stressful time. I think we talked about that would be okay. That as the news reports came, and they knew that kids were out of the school safe. Eventually they recognized who the shooters were as they started going through the school, and making sure that kids were okay, and matching kids. We just kinda sat there and held hands, and just prayed, and provided emotional support”

In 1999, the time the massacre took place, violence like this rarely happened; let alone at a school. After Columbine there was this sense of fear in communities, families, law enforcement, and in schools, and all people wanted to know was why this did happen (Pittaro, 2007)? How could two kids do this, and how could it be prevented? There are a few explanations and theories that can be applied to this incident that deal with both psychological and sociological issues. The first theory is the social learning theory. This theory deals with how people learn certain behaviors and values through their families, community, peers, and even other media outlets. How this theory applies to Harris and Klebold is that these two were opposites. As stated above, after the shooting psychologist really believed that Harris was a psychopath and mentally unstable, and people knew him of being aggressive, he was often depressed, and had tried to kill himself on multiple occasions. On the other hand Klebold was the complete opposite. For the people who knew him he was nice and friendly, even participated in a few of the schools productions and worked the light board for plays and concerts. Three days before the massacre he attended the schools prom with friends, so how these two completely opposite kids did were find a common interest in violence? This is where the social learning theory can be applied. Klebold was still an

There was belief that Harris and Klebold committed the killings because they were members of a group of social outcasts called the “Trenchcoat Mafia” that was fascinated by Goth culture. Violent video games and music were also blamed for influencing the killers. However, none of these theories was ever proven. Columbine High School reopened in the fall of 1999, but the massacre left a scar on the Littleton community. Mark Manes, the man who sold a gun to Harris and bought him 100 rounds of explosives the day before the murders, was sentenced to six years in prison. In the aftermath of the Columbine shootings, many schools enacted “zero tolerance” rules regarding disruptive behavior and threats of violence from