Columbine High School Massacre: Dylan Klebold And Harris

On April 20, 1999, the unimaginable occurred at Columbine High School in the small town of Littleton, Colorado. A school shooting, perpetrated by, then senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold took the entire community by storm. With 15 deaths, including the perpetrators, and 24 non-fatal injuries, the memories of this horrific massacre will forever resonate in minds of all. With a meticulously, thought out plan, the two shooters prepared guns and bombs before performing the sickening act. Families, the FBI, local officials, psychologists,

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.

One of the keys to life is socialization. Socialization is the extended period of dependency for human children allows them to learn the complexities of culture through human affection and interaction. Both Harris and Klebold both lacked any socialization skills. Their school was not welcoming, a place that should be fundamental to socialization. Their family environment seemed to be normal however; this is not something we confirm. With children making homemade bombs and destruction home videos makes me wonder how normal their life could really be. The groups that they surrounded themselves by were angry kids just like them, maybe not to the extent Harris and Klebold were but the Trench coat Mafia had felt the same abuse.

Although it is not obvious in modern society, psychopaths may survive and thrive within the population. Psychopaths are typically represented as stark outliers that rarely exist outside of mental institutions, but this is not always the case. In Columbine, by Dave Cullen, Cullen investigates the psychological state of Eric Harris, the mastermind behind the Columbine massacre that occurred on April 20, 1999. Through his extensive definition of psychopathy, Cullen elaborates on the reasons that led Eric to murder many of his peers, and to explain how his psychopathic nature helped him accomplish his mission.

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.

On Tuesday, April 20 1999, Columbine High School located in Columbine Colorado an unfortunate massacre happened and many teens lost their lives. The two students responsible for this incident were Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. These two senior students were responsible for killing twelve students and one teacher; they were also responsible for injuring an additional twenty one students on their rampage. A few other students were injured while trying to escape the school. Columbine is considered the fourth deadliest school massacre in history. It was said to be that there was not one target but everyone was a target on Eric and Dylan’s rampage through the high school

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

Almost twenty years ago, on April 20th, 1999 just seemed like any other regular day of that time. Everyone went about their regular routine; parents going to work, children going to school, young adults going to colleges. But two high school seniors of Columbine High had no intentions of going about their regular days. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered their school with mind made of never leaving that school again alive but not before committing the most heinous and bloody massacre ever committed in the United States history. There has been bombing where the death toll was significantly higher than Columbine shooting. But what made this tragedy so terrifying was this was not any terrorist or radicalized person trying to avenge authorities; these were two teenagers killing their fellow classmates and teachers. Something that none thinks about, it was like a parent’s worst nightmare coming true. Eric and Dylan killed a total of thirteen people, students and teachers combined, and seriously injuring over twenty others . This shooting sent shockwaves across the country, but most evidently sent criminal justice community scrambling looking for answers into why these two boys did what they did? What happened that made them mass murderers? To explore these questions criminologists started applying crime theories to the both their present life and their upbringing.

In addition to this statement from his mother some of Harper-Mercer’s own words leading up to the shooting concluded that he had some degree of paranoia. This is demonstrated through the manifesto that he left behind in which he said, “I was hated ever since I arrived in the world. I was always under attack” (Li, 2015). Harper-Mercer illustrates that he felt like the cards were stacked against him his entire life beginning at birth. He also said, “I’ve always been the most hated person in the world. Ever since I arrived in the world. Some will say I had so much to live for, but I don’t think so” (Li, 2015). Some of Harper-Mercer’s final words show “his me versus them” outlook on life. Under Langman’s guidelines Harper-Mercer best fits under the category of Psychotic and is most similar to Langman’s example of Dylan Klebold, who was a shooter in the Columbine High School attack. Klebold and Harper-Mercer were similar in that Klebold also exhibited paranoia. Klebold expressed before his attack that, “he thought that everyone in his life hated him and felt like he was being conspired against.” (Langman, 2009) This reinforces the “me versus them” mentality that Harper-Mercer also had and provides a possible driving force behind why each of these perpetrators carried out the heinous

On April 20th of the year 1999, two high school students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, went armed into Columbine High School with guns, knives, and a multitude of bombs. The result was the slaughter of twelve students and one teacher. The gunners also turned the guns

"I'm angry someone would do this to us. There are lives ruined, families ruined, and our whole school year is ruined" (Brackely 1). Casey Brackely, once a student that attended Columbine High School, remembers the tragedy of the horrific Columbine shooting that killed and injured many students. Mass shootings in the United States have been on the rise since the 1980’s, especially in the last decade. These shooters motives and profiles are almost all terrifyingly alike. Many of these shooters try to imitate and parallel the tragic shooting of the Columbine High School in 1999. These shootings have made peaceful organizations, such as an elementary school; become a place of violence and death. Currently, in the United States, an epidemic of

The first misconception is that the social cliques that occur in high schools across the nation has a role in this tragedy. Columbine is not simply a school shooting but is rather a shooting that the gunmen chose the school as their tool. School shooters tend to act impulsively and attack the targets of their rage mainly the students and faculty. Harris and Klebold planned for a year and dreamed much bigger. The school served as a means to a grander end, to terrorize the entire nation by attacking a symbol of American life. The shooters talk in numerous video tapes about their act being bigger than the Oklahoma city bombings. They boasted about making sure there bloody performance was bigger and more memorable. Klebold is particular was quoted as bragging about inflicting “the most deaths in U.S. history. Columbine was

On July 20, 2012, a major tragedy happened in Aurora Colorado during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. James Holmes willingly without showing no remorse entered the movie theater Century 16 at Town Center. He was resembling the Joker with red hair wearing a gas mask and body armor murdering 12 people and wounding 70 people. A jury found Holmes guilty on 24 counts of first degree murder, two counts for each of the 12 victims. Also, he was found guilty of 140 counts of attempted murder for the 70 people wounded (Biography, 2016). James Holmes’ life, upbringing, and behavior preceding the massacre, the significance of the case from a behavioral and security management perspective, the response time by the theater staff and law enforcement, the legal and ethical considerations in this incident and what learning outcomes are relevant to this case study will be some of the highlights covered in this case analysis.

It's April 20, 1999 an ordinary Tuesday morning at columbine high school. In about two weeks approximately 300 seniors will be graduating and perhaps attending college. For many students this means that they will be moving to a different chapter in their lives, and the beginning of a new life and life journey however for many students these goals won't be accomplished. On this particular Tuesday morning several students’ lives will unfortunately end in tragedy. Students today will head about their day as usual but two seniors, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris will be very vengeful and will not allow anything to get in their path.

Written by Susan Klebold, the mother of Dylan, one of the shooters in the Columbine High School shooting, A Mother’s Reckoning comes to mind particularly because of the unfamiliar and haunting, yet relatable truths. Looking at Dylan prior to the shooting, it seem as though the hints and signs that something was wrong could not have been any clearer. However, I came to understand her feelings, thoughts, and her failure to take action in the events leading to the massacre. We always ask “why?” after a shooting happened, when we should be asking “how?” because “how points the way forward.” She continues on stating that we learn the importance of dental health and a stable income, but we are never taught how to take care of our mental health. Her