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Zusammenfassung
Soziologie

Schotengymnasium Wien

2009

Elisabeth . ©
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ID# 2211







Summary of Peter Langmans "WHY KIDS KILL: INSIDE THE MIND OF SCHOOL SHOOTERS"

In this text I want to sum up the contents of the book. I added additional information about disorders etc. from Wikipedia if necessary. As this is not an official text for school to be graded, quotes from Wikipedia and the book are not marked as such.

Contents

page

1 Preface. 2

2 1. chapter School Shooters Beyond The Sound Bite. 3

2.1 Grasping for Answers. 3

2.2 The Shooters. 4

3 Psychopathic Shooters. 5

3.1 2. chapter "I Am The Law" Two Psychopaths. 5

3.1.1 One Plus One Equals a Million. 5

3.1.2 Aspiring to Godhood. 6

3.1.2.1Paranoid Personality Traits. 7

3.1.2.2Antisocial Personality Traits. 7

3.1.2.3Narcissistic Personality Traits. 8

3.1.2.4Sadistic Personality Traits. 8

3.2 Psychopathic Shooters. 8

4 Psychotic Shooters. 8

4.1 3. chapter "A God of Sadness": A Schizotypical Youth. 8

4.1.1 An Enigmatic Killer. 9

4.1.1.1Avoidant Personality Traits. 9

4.1.1.2Schizotypical Personality Traits. 9

4.1.1.3dependent Personality Traits. 10

4.1.1.4Dylan's Reasons for Suicide and Homicide. 10

4.1.1.5Dylan and Charles Manson. 10

4.1.1.6A Schizotypical Shooter. 10

4.2 4. chapter "None of This Is Real": Four Schizophrenics. 10

4.2.1 "I think I' an Alien". 10

4.2.2 "I died Four Years Ago". 11

4.2.3 "God Damn These VOICES inside My Head!". 12

4.2.4 "Thanks to You, I die like Jesus". 12

4.2 Psychotic Shooters. 13

5 Traumatized Shooters. 13

5.1 "Every Man's Nightmare": Three Traumatized Children. 13

5.1.1 "I thought My Life Was at an End". 13

5.1.2 Son of Rambo. 14

5.1.3 "16 Years of Accumulated Rage". 15

5.1.4 Traumatized Shooters. 15

6 The Bigger Picture. 15

6.1 6. chapter Beyond the Typology. 15

6.1.1 Beyond the Typology. 15

6.1.2 But What Do They Have in Common?. 16

6.1.2.1Failure of Empathy. 16

6.1.2.2Existential Rage. 16

6.1.3 Suicide and Existential Anguish. 17

6.1.3.1Extreme Reactivity. 17

6.1.3.2Shame, Envy, and the Failure of Manhood. 17

6.1.3.3The Role of Fantasy: Rehearsal for Killing. 17

6.1.4 The Search for Answers. 17

6.2.0 7. chapter Kids Caught in the Nick of Time. 17

6.2.1 The Art of Creative Destruction. 18

6.2.2 The Eyes that Did Not Blink. 18

6.2.2.1Bombs Are Fun. 18

6.2.3 A Taste for Killing. 18

6.2.4 The Childless Girl with Children. 18

6.2.5 How Dangerous Were They?. 19

6.2.6 Potential Shooters and Actual Shooters. 19

6.3 8. chapter What Can Be Done to Prevent School Shootings. 19

6.3.1 Lesson #1: The Limits of Privacy. 19

6.3.2 Lesson #2: Do Not Lie To Protect Your Child. 19

6.3.3 Lesson #3: Follow through with Due Process, No Matter Who Is Involved. 19

6.3.4 Lesson #4: If the School Is Concerned about Your Child, Pay Attention. 19

6.3.5 Lesson #5: Eliminate Easy Access to Guns. 19

6.3.6 Lesson #6: Assume Threats Are Serious until Proven Otherwise. 19

6.3.7 Lesson #7: Anyone Can Stop a School Shooting. 20

6.3.8 Lesson #8: Recognize Possible Rehearsals of Attacks. 20

6.3.9 Lesson #9: Punishment Is Not Prevention. 20

6.3.10 Lesson #10: The Limits of Physical Security. 20

6.3.11 Threat Assessment. 20

6.3.12 Good Communication and Positive Culture. 20

1 Preface

In the preface we, Langman discloses his reason for writing a book about school shootings. After the Columbine Massacre a teenager was admitted to the psychiatric hospital, at which Langman was working at. He was asked to assess the risk that the teenager might "go Columbine, since he posted a hit list on his Website.

That was a difficult task for Langman, since at that time, not much was published about school shootings. Since then he regularly evaluates potential school shooters.

The lack of literature regarding the topic and his engagement with potential school shooters broug.....

2) Psychotic Shooters

3) Traumatized Shooters

At this point I want to define the words "psychopathic" and "psychotic", since they are often used synonymously.

Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of emphaty, combined with strongly amoral conduct, masked by an ability to appear outwardly normal. Aggression and sadism is common in psychopathic patients. Psychopathy itself is no illness classified by DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and ICD (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems).

The correct term would be antisocial personality disorder.

Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality". In the ICD "Psychosis" is split up in 9 different illnesses. They have in common, that the patient is very paranoid.

3 Psychopathic Shooters

3.1 2. chapter "I Am The Law" Two Psychopaths

At the beginning of the second chapter, Langman describes what a psychopath is.

1) They are often narcisstic, Narcissm involves two related concepts: egotism and egocentrism. Egoistical people think they are superior to other people. Egocentric people meet their own needs with little or no concern for the needs of those around them. That goes so far that they are unable to feel empathy.

2) They have no use for morality because morality would interfere with their needs. That's why they don't feel guilt or remorse.

3) They tend to have problems with anger management. That's another result of their Egocentrism.

4) They often hide their aggressive and cold side very well. A Dr. Robert Hare calls that skill "impression management".

5) They are often sadistic. Not all psychopaths are sadistic, but all psychopathic school shooters in this book were.

3.1.1 One Plus One Equals a Million

This part is about Andrew Golden (11y), Mitchell Johnson (13y) is described in the chapter about traumatized shooters.

In 1998, after Andrew pulled a fire alarm in the school, they carried out a sniper attack on the people who left the school. They wounded 9 students and 1 teacher and killed 4 girls and 1 teacher.

They were too young to be tried as adults and served their time until they turned 21. They are free man now.

Andrew Golden was usually called Drew. Both of his parents were local postmasters. People described Drew as "the center of their [his parents] world". He has two motherly stepsiblings.

Weapons were always an important part of his life. His parents were leaders of a shooting club. He got his first rifle when he was six years old. Some say he was obsessed with guns. He always used guns as topic for his creative school assignments.

Around his parents he was a sweet child, in school he was "a bit of a class clown" but no serious discipline problem.

Described until now is Drews "impression management". When he was away from his parents he was "mean spirited", "evil-acting", a "little demon".

He was aggressive and threatening against other children and shot them with his bb-gun. He rode his bicycle with a knife strapped to his leg.

His most disturbing trait was the sadism he lived out on cats. He killed at least one by letting it starve in a barrel. He pushed their heads through chain-link fences or slit their throats.

Other people told their children not to play with Drew. His parents didn't want to know about that side of him. They never disciplined him.

When he disrupted class, his parents never supported the teachers.

Still, he had a social circle, played trumpet in the school band and started dating.

On the day of his shooting, Mitchell and Drew skipped school in the morning. When their parents went to work, they collected the guns.

They planned to escape after the assault, they had filled the escape van with clothing and food. In they didn't even reach the van before the police arrested them. They were held until their 21. birthday.

Drew might have been inspired by the shooting of Joseph Todd in the same state, as he mentioned his idea to do a shooting to Mitchell soon after Josephs shooting.

After pulling a fire alarm they sat in trees and killed shot at the running crowd.

While 14 out of 15 victims were females, they probably didn't especially targeted girls. The class that exited through the door first mostly consisted of girls. But one of the wounded victims was Drews ex-girlfriend.

Drew's behavior in court shows us his psychopathic lack of remorse: While Mitchell pleaded guilty and cried, Mitchell pleaded not guilty and didn't apologized. He generally was described as looki.....

Eric and Dylan tried to create a huge massacre. If their bombs would have detonated they would have killed 660 people. They had prepared other bombs in cars outside to kill the arriving parents and media after the main event, that would have killed several 100 more.

As we can read in Erics journals, he would have liked to kill every human on earth (except for some native tribes).

On the day of the attack Eric wore a shirt that read "Natural Selection". That's part of his fascination with the Nazis eugenic thoughts. He extended that idea and thought that all humans are unfit to live. He wanted to play god to turn his fantasies into reality.

Eric had several personality disorders that are split up in paranoid, antisocial, narcissistic and sadistic features. They are individually explained.

3.1.2.1 Paranoid Personality Traits

Paranoia is more than thinking "someone is out to get you". People with paranoid disorders usually are not delusional, in other words, they do not have false believes that someone is out to get them.

Rather, the paranoid personality consists of a cluster of traits, including a preoccupation with autonomy and control as well as an extreme sensitivity to issues of status.

A very important paranoid trait is the fear & hate of being controlled or influenced by others. That's why Eric hated "slow people", for example slow walking pedestrians who blocked his way.

In his own diary he wrote it's impossible to be original, since everything someone does is the copying of someone else. Still he tried to be a rebel against that. As Dr Millon says: Paranoid people have an intense fear of losing their identity and, more importantly, their powers of self-determination.

Eric also demonstrated another characteristic of the paranoid personality: a preoccupation with status. He hated "snobs" , people who in his eyes had it easy because they were born with wealth.

Paranoid people think they have gotten a raw deal in life and feel like victims.

As he wanted to be superior over everyone, he called on of his hobbies "being cool". He hated other people who called themselves cool.

The paranoid person -often grandiose and arrogant though underneath feeling ashamed and small, determined to be strong and to be "on top of things", though underneath feeling weak -is constantly, pridefully, concerned with those who, on account of their rank or superior authority, can make him feel small and powerless.

3.1.2.2 Anti.....

He knew he wasn't but still he claimed to be god. That fantasy was at the border to a psychotic delusion. On the other hand he looked through himself. He wrote that everyone was making fun of him because of his looks and physical weakness. Then he says he hates himself for those reasons and makes fun of others. He analyses that his low self-esteem concerning girls and looks.

Even in his last journal entries, he wrote about his wish to "get laid". We clearly see that he wanted to feel like a man, but couldn't do that. He thought that it wasn't his fault that he couldn't get sex. He thought it was everyone elses fault.

3.1.2.4 Sadistic Personality Traits

The key element of Sadism is experiencing excitement and satisfaction through making others suffer. It's about feeling power over someone else. Sadists usually hate minority groups. So did Eric: He said that all Blacks, Gay, Handicapped, women etc. are inferior.

Because he felt weak himself, calling those groups weaker than himself made him feel stronger.

Eric had fantasies about raping girls and mutilating people. He describe his mutilation fantasies in great detail. During his shooting he mocked the victims. A girl was hiding under a table. Eric looked under the table, said "Peekaboo" and shot her. Multiple people confirm, that Eric laughed while slaughtering his victims. He felt like a god.

3.2 Psychopathic Shooters

It's very importend not to think that every school shooter was psychopathic! Most shooters do not fit in that group.

Summarized, psychopathic shooters share the following similarities:

1) Sadism: Eric had rape and mutilation fantasies and taunted his victims, Drew tortured cats to death.

2) Impression management: Both boys could persuade key adults, like teachers and parents, that the.....

4.1.1 An Enigmatic Killer

This part is about Dylan Klebold (17y). (Columbine massacre)

Eric and Dylan carried out a complex attack involving a sequence of bombs and shooting that they had planned for over a year. Most of the bombs failed. In the end they shot themselves.

They killed 12 students and 1 teacher and wounded 23 students.

People were baffled by Dylans involvement with the shooting. He was a quiet and very shy person. Dylan came from a stable family as well. He was described as sweet and cute kid but as goofy as well. His parents were against weapon and didn't even allow him to play with toy guns. No one would have ever described Dylan as violent. He probably had an avoidant personality disorder.

That involves severe feelings of inadequacy, fears of rejection and social anxiety.

As well as Eric Dylan thought about being godlike. The difference is, he really believed it.

Dylans journal focused on his loneliness, depression and preoccupation with finding love, he drew hearts in his diary. Eric wrote about slaughtering people and drew guns.

Erics writing is clear, Dylans is disorganized, full of tangled syntax and misused words. That's a sign of his psychosis.

You could say the difference between a psychopath and a psychotic is that it's important what psychopaths think and how psychotics think.

4.1.1.1 Av.....

He said that because of his human side he couldn't call the girl he loved.

As he could not cope with his unhappiness anymore, he created a picture of himself as god. He elevated his outsider status into a benefit.

Another typical trait is his sexual behavior that could be considered abnormal. Dylan had a bondage and a foot fetish. He felt ashamed for masturbating over it. He felt regret and punished himself with not playing video games, or stop ridiculing other people.

Unlike a psychopath he could feel guilt.

4.1.1.3 dependent Personality Traits

Dylans dependant personality is clearly visible. He clung to Eric and followed his orders. Before Eric he had a friends called Zach, who stopped spending time with Dylan after he got a girlfriend. After Zach he began to copy Eric, to get closer to him. He never wrote about homicidal thoughts before he got close to him. As Dylan came from a Jewish family, it's interesting that he copied Erics anti-Semitic behavior.

He even said that Erics neo-Nazi interest bothered him. The same thing goes for making fun of people: Dylan only copied Eric and regretted doing it.

It's interesting to think about how they got together: Eric wanted to be a leader and Dylan was submissive and dependant. Eric's rage was directed toward inferiors others, Dylan's rage was directed toward himself.

During the shooting Dylan let several of his former friends go.

4.1.1.4 Dylan's Reasons for Suicide and Homicide

Dylan was four weeks away from graduation and was admitted to his university of choose.

Dylans reasons for the homicide remain unclear throughout his journal entries. But one similarity is that he talked about eternal freedom and happiness after his death. He made references at "getti.....


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