Beyond columbine: a faceted model of school-associated homicide

Abstract

The current paper applies action systems theory to the phenomenon of school violence perpetrated by children. This framework has been recently applied to understanding other forms of criminal behaviour and was hypothesised to be appropriate for understanding the function of aggression and interaction in school homicides. The data for the study consisted of 93 school-associated violent deaths occurring in North America between 1992 and 1999. Content analysis of these cases produced a set of 29 variables relating to perpetrator actions. In order to test the action systems hypotheses, a Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) was performed. The plot was partitioned according to an angular facet reflecting four modes of interaction, in the spatial order predicted by the model. Additionally, a radial facet was found that was interpreted as reflecting the offender's attempts to attain or preserve their sense of power. These results have implications both for understanding the motives and functions of violent behaviour in schools, as well as offering suggestions for interventions targeted at modifying this behaviour.

A model for differentiating school shooters characteristics

“…While there have been attempts to understand the motivations of the offenders (Fritzon & Brun, 2005) and study the offence characteristics (Gerard et al, 2015) or even describe the offenders characteristics (i.e. Fritzon & Brun, 2005;Gerard et al, 2015), to the authors' knowledge, previous studies have not attempted to provide a model of offender characteristics which might be used to identify risk factors and develop prevention and intervention strategies. In addition, many of the studies on school associated violence include all types of incidents occurring in schools, whilst the focus of the present study is on 'rampage' school shootings only; the expressive, non-targeted attacks on school grounds.…”

“…A number of studies have focused on factors relating to family environment, behavioural aspects of a perpetrator causing them to act out in such a destructive manner (Fritzon & Brun, 2005;Pittaro, 2007), and descriptions of the school environment that may have caused the perpetrator to act as they did. The FBI (2011) provide a list of warning signs to look for, and researchers have pointed out a number of different risk factors (Meadows, 2007).…”

“…The FBI (2011) provide a list of warning signs to look for, and researchers have pointed out a number of different risk factors (Meadows, 2007). Others have looked closely into cases studies (Leary et al, 2003), focused on understanding the motivations of the offenders (Fritzon & Brun, 2005) or offence characteristics (Gerard et al, 2015). Fritzon and Brun (2005), attempting to understand the perpetrators motives and extreme acts of school-associated violence, developed a model of school-associated violent deaths applying action systems theory to the phenomenon of school violence while Gerard et al (2015) investigated 28 cases of school shooting incidents and developed a model of offence characteristics.…”

“…Others have looked closely into cases studies (Leary et al, 2003), focused on understanding the motivations of the offenders (Fritzon & Brun, 2005) or offence characteristics (Gerard et al, 2015). Fritzon and Brun (2005), attempting to understand the perpetrators motives and extreme acts of school-associated violence, developed a model of school-associated violent deaths applying action systems theory to the phenomenon of school violence while Gerard et al (2015) investigated 28 cases of school shooting incidents and developed a model of offence characteristics. While there have been attempts to understand the motivations of the offenders (Fritzon & Brun, 2005) and study the offence characteristics (Gerard et al, 2015) or even describe the offenders characteristics (i.e.…”

“…Fritzon and Brun (2005), attempting to understand the perpetrators motives and extreme acts of school-associated violence, developed a model of school-associated violent deaths applying action systems theory to the phenomenon of school violence while Gerard et al (2015) investigated 28 cases of school shooting incidents and developed a model of offence characteristics. While there have been attempts to understand the motivations of the offenders (Fritzon & Brun, 2005) and study the offence characteristics (Gerard et al, 2015) or even describe the offenders characteristics (i.e. Fritzon & Brun, 2005;Gerard et al, 2015), to the authors' knowledge, previous studies have not attempted to provide a model of offender characteristics which might be used to identify risk factors and develop prevention and intervention strategies.…”