School Violence

1
School Violence

• What causes it and how can we prevent it.
• Presentation by Roger Reetz

2
What we will cover.

• The cost of violence
• Selected school shootings
• Grossmans 5-Ds
• What the shooters had in common
• The Game Over Effect
• What causes it
• Brain research
• A plan of action

3
The Cost of Violence

• How many kids have been killed in school by fire
  in the last 25 years?
• Zero
• 1999- Year of Columbine
• 35 kids killed in school
• ¼ million seriously injured
• 2004
• 48 kids killed in school
• When it comes to violence, the problem is denial.
• Denial has no survival benefit.

4
The Cost of Violence

• 800 people are killed each year in workplace
  violence
• 99 of these are preventable w/ armed corporate
  security.
• One out of three girls and one out of seven boys
  are sexually abused by the time they reach the
  age of eighteen.
• Bullying At least 160,000 children miss school
  every day because they fear an attack or
  intimidation by other students.
• Animal Mutilation Teachers report more and more
  students as young as seven years old discussing
  the thrills of stabbing a kitten to death or
  torturing a pet.

5
The Cost of Violence
6
The Cost of Violence

• In 2002, Anthony Harris and a team of scholars
  from the University of Massachusetts and Harvard,
  published a landmark study in the journal,
  Homicide Studies, which concluded that medical
  technology advances since 1970 have prevented
  approximately three out of four murders.
• That is, if we had 1970s level medical
  technology, the murder rate would be three or
  four times higher than it is today.

7
The Cost of Violence
8
School Shootings-Paducah, Kentucky- December 1,
1997

• Fourteen year old Michael Carneal steals a gun
  from a neighbors house
• Carneal wrapped two shotguns and two rifles in a
  blanket and took them to school, passing them off
  as an art project he was working on. He also has
  a .22 cal pistol.
• When he arrived he inserted ear plugs and pulled
  the pistol out of his bag.
• Fires eight shots into a student prayer meeting
  that is breaking up and hit eight different kids
• He achieved Five head shots and three upper torso
• He left three dead and one paralyzed for life.
• Prior to stealing the gun, he had never shot a
  real handgun in his life.

9
School Shootings-Paducah, Kentucky- December 1,
1997

• Michael Carneal had acquired is killing ability
  at the tender age of fourteen by killing
  literally thousands of people in first person
  shooter video games
• He had spent hundreds of hours playing these
  games.
• His feet never moved during the shooting.
• His first bullet went between his girlfriends
  eyes, and then he proceeded to put one bullet in
  every target that popped up on his screen.
• His own sister wrote in her statement that she
  started to move toward her brother to tell him to
  stop, but then she says that she recalled
  thinking to herself, He doesnt know who I am.
  Hes going to kill me, so she started to run.

10
School Shootings-Paducah, Kentucky- December 1,
1997

• Game Over Effect
• He still has one round left and there are still
  lots of targets running and screaming all around
  him.
• But before he can shoot one more time, the
  principal runs up to him and demands, Stop! He
  stops.
• Put the gun down, the principal says, Youve
  done enough. And the kid put the gun down.
• So, right in the middle of committing a mass
  murder, with the capability of killing at least
  one more, a simple verbal command stops the
  killer.

11
School Shootings-Pearl Mississippi- October 1,
2007

• Sixteen-year-old Luke Woodham stabs his mother to
  death, then he goes to his high school and shoots
  nine students.
• Two die, including the suspect's ex-girlfriend,
  seven others are wounded.
• Game Over effect
• The vice-principal has a .45 automatic in his car
  (a federal offense, though no one has ever
  pressed charges) and runs out to the parking lot
  to retrieve it.
• this educator stands face-to-face with the kid,
  pointing his gun at the young man, and says,
  Stop! Amazingly, the kid stops.
• A 17-year-old crazed mass murderer with a loaded
  gun in his hand is ordered to stop shooting
  people, and he does.

12
School Shootings-Jonesboro, Ark.- March 24, 1998

• Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot
  at their classmates and teachers from the woods.
• Four students and one teacher killed, ten others
  wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied
  during a false fire alarm.
• They planned the attack to take place where
  students were trapped in a kill zone.
• They fired 23 shots at over 100 yards hitting
  fifteen people.

13
School Shootings-Jonesboro, Ark.- March 24, 1998

• Game Over Effect
• Two young killers empty their weapons into 15
  people, reload and begin running over a hill
  toward their stolen van.
• The boys are 11 and 13 years old. As they
  approach the van, a police officer yells,
  Police! Down on the ground. Drop the weapon.
  Down on the ground.
• These two boys have just committed a bloody mass
  murder and they still have loaded weapons in
  their hands, but what do they do?
• They obey the officer and drop their weapons.

14
School Shootings-Jonesboro, Ark.- March 24, 1998

• The mother of the 13-year-old killer in the
  Jonesboro school shooting sat across Lt. Col
  Grossmans coffee table and told his wife and
  him, several months after the killings, that she
  finally told her son who he had killed that day.
• She said her boy laid his head on the table, and
  sobbed, saying, Those were my friends.
• There are no friends in violent video games
  there are only targets. Points. They were
  committed to a state detention center under a
  controversial juvenile sentencing law that will
  allow them to walk out of jail by their 21st
  birthdays.
• In 2005, the two boys were released and their
  records were wiped clean.

15
School Shootings-Red Lake, Minnesota- March 21,
2005

• Jeffrey Weise, a 16-year-old student started out
  by killing grandfather (police officer) and
  grandfathers girl friend.
• He did this to get grandfathers weapons and body
  armor.
• Two unarmed security officers observed him park
  grandfathers patrol car on the curb in front of
  the school and get out with the weapons.
• One went to sound lockdown.
• One stayed to try to talk down shooter
• Conversation lasted about 2 seconds, ending with
  two 12 gage shotgun slugs and one dead security
  guard.

16
School Shootings-Red Lake, Minnesota- March 21,
2005

• Shooter headed down the hall trying each
  classroom door
• School policy was to have all doors lock at all
  times
• When lock down was called out, all teachers had
  to do was shut the door.
• Shooter tried to break door windows by couldnt.
• At the end of the hall, shooter reached library
  where he was able to break door window.
• The teacher had students move to another room.
• The teacher then tried to block door with her
  body
• Shooter reached around door jam and killed the
  teacher then made entry

17
School Shootings-Red Lake, Minnesota- March 21,
2005

• Shooter killed a total of seven at school plus
  grandfather and grandfathers girlfriend.
• Police officers where on scene in 8 minutes
  because teachers used cell phone to call for
  help.

18
School Shootings-Virginia Technical College-
April 16, 2007

• Cho Seung-hui, who police say is responsible the
  shootings, was a loner, according to a university
  official. 33 dead (including shooter who
  committed suicide as police entered the
  building), 16 injured
• "From what I heard, he chained up some of the
  doors so people couldn't get in and he basically
  was just going to every classroom trying to get
  in, and just started shooting inside classrooms,"
  Jenkins said.
• "He said every single person in the room was
  shot, killed and was in the ground. He laid on
  the ground with everyone he played dead and he
  was OK."

19
School Shootings-Virginia Technical College-
April 16, 2007

• "There wasn't a shooting victim that didn't have
  less than three bullet wounds in them," said Dr.
  Joseph Cacioppo of Montgomery Regional Hospital.
• There was 100 wounds recorded.
• "Cho's favorite video game was Counterstrike," mak
  ing it the violent shooter game of choice of the
  authors of the two worst school shootings in
  world history (V-Tech first, Erfurt, Germany
  second). 

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Bomb Threats

• There has never been a bomb found in an American
  Classroom based on a phone tip.
• Stated in the Gift of Fear by Gavin DeBecker
• Never evacuate a school based solely on a phone
  call
• Classroom is the safest place.
• Do not evacuate to parking lots
• 500 lb car bomb vs. 30 lb backpack bomb
• Jonesburg, AK. students pulled fire alarm to get
  students outside to gun them down sniper style.

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Grossmans 5 Ds

• Denial
• Get rid of it.
• When it comes to violence, the problem is denial.
• Denial has no survival benefit.

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Grossmans 5 Ds

• Deter
• Armed officers on campus are the best deterrence
• North Valley Jewish Community Center- Los
  Angeles- August 10, 1999
• Buford O'Neal Furrow, Jr. entered a Jewish
  daycare and shot five people.
• He went to three other schools before this one
  but did not attack them because they had armed
  officers there.
• He exited the interstate for gas and found the
  North Valley Jewish Community Center.
• It did not have armed security.

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Grossmans 5 Ds

• Detect
• Be observant of people watching the school.
• If someone calls asking if there is armed
  security in your school
• Note the caller ID and time
• Report it
• Have police do a follow-up visit
• Watch students writings/projects
• All the school shooters had a persistent theme of
  violence in their school work .

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Grossmans 5 Ds

• Delay
• Go into lockdown
• Grossman suggests that in the event of a Fire
  Alarm, ignore the alarm until you see physical
  proof of fire (remember Jonesboro).
• All classroom doors should be locked all the
  time.
• Move
• Move away from violence
• Move to a secure location
• Must be secure enough to wait for armed response.
• Do not evacuate to parking lots (car bombs)
• Move again if necessary

25
Grossmans 5 Ds

• Destroy
• Take out shooters as quickly as possible.

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What all 19 school shooters had in common

• There is not a profile of a school shooter, only
  common actions
• white
• black
• rich
• poor

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What all 19 school shooters had in common

• Shooter had a gun in school
• Gang pants designed to conceal weapons
  merchandise
• School should strictly enforce dress code
• How hard is it to bring a gun to school?

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(No Transcript)
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What all 19 school shooters had in common

• Shooter had a grievance about a real or perceived
  injustice
• Some were bullied
• Some were not bullied

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What all 19 school shooters had in common

• Persistent theme of violence in their school work
• Columbine shooters made movie of a mock school
  shooting as part of a school project.
• They wore black trench coats and used toy guns.
• Teacher turned tape over to principal
• Principal failed to take action
• He is now being successfully sued.
• He is personally and professionally ruined.
• Dont be afraid of being sued for
  restricting/reporting student writing
• Be afraid of being successfully sued for not
  turning it in when something happens.

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What all 19 school shooters had in common

• Shooters all had an obsession with media
  violence.
• Video games, TV, movies

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What all 19 school shooters had in common

• None of the school shooters was in varsity
  sports.
• None of them had trained extensively in the
  strict discipline of a martial art.
• (One had earned a yellow belt, the lowest rank
  which took only a few weeks, and after dabbling
  briefly he dropped out.)
• None of the school killers was in Junior ROTC.
• None of them was a competitive shooter, a very
  demanding sport with draconian punishments if you
  fire at the wrong time or in the wrong direction.

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What all 19 school shooters had in common

• None of the school killers had a hunting license,
  another activity that requires strict discipline
  and adherence to the law.
• Did you know that if you shoot at a deer from
  your car, you would lose your car, your gun, your
  money, and your hunting license?
• For all you golfers, what would happen if the
  first time you cheated, they took your clubs and
  your cart, and banned you from ever golfing
  again?
• There wouldnt be any golfers left!

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What all 19 school shooters had in common

• It should be mentioned that there was one
  disciplined activity in which several of the
  school shooters did participate (although several
  of them later dropped out).
• That was band. But no one is sure what to make of
  that.
• This is a puzzle that many good people have
  examined with sincere concern, developing
  theories involving such factors as the absence of
  discipline in some band programs, possible
  bullying in the band environment, and the
  non-athletic nature of this activity.

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What all 19 school shooters had in common

• In the end, the profile of the school killer is
  that of a sad little kid who is obsessed with
  violent movies, TV, and/or video games, but who
  will not participate in an activity in which he
  might be hurt or have to submit to discipline.

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Game Over Effect

• We have never before seen mass murderers stop
  just because someone tells them to.
• Could it be because these killers are still kids,
  and their training teaches them to accept
  interruptions?
• When a kid plays a video game and his mom tells
  him to stop, the kid puts the game on pause,
  and then looks up to see what she wants.
• Kids are used to the game over feature, and
  they are used to a verbal command telling them
  when it is time to pause.

37
Game Over Effect

• It is important that we do not assume that all
  shooters will stop just because you tell them to.
  
• I believe the two killers in Littleton, Colorado,
  would never have stopped just because someone
  told them to.
• The killer in Springfield, Oregon, gunned down 24
  kids. It was not a verbal command that stopped
  him, but a high school senior, an Eagle Scout and
  wrestler, who sucked up the killers bullets but
  still tackled the shooter and wrestled the gun
  away.
• Never assume that all will stop on command.

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So what causes it?

• In July, 2000, a joint statement was made to the
  US Congress by the AMA, the APA, the American
  Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy
  of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
• What they said was "Well over 1,000 studies
  point overwhelmingly to a causal connection
  between media violence and aggressive behavior in
  some children."

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So what causes it?

• Violent Video Games
• Grand Theft Auto
• Postal II
• Redneck Rampage
• Kingpin Life of Crime
• Halo
• Duke Nukem
• The list goes on.

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So what causes it?

• In a 2001 study, Stanford University has
  demonstrated less TV equals less violence.
• 50 decrease in verbal aggression,
• 40 decrease in physical aggression,
• just by encouraging kids to turn off their TVs
  and video games

41
So what causes it?

• In the 1950s the per capita murder rate double
  in the US.
• Trend
• From east to west
• From large cities to rural areas
• From whites to blacks
• Dr. Brandon Centerwal, M.D., an epidemiologist,
  was asked by the CDC in 1981 to investigate.
• He considered every possibility that any research
  evidence had ever suggested might reasonably be
  the cause
• Found that everywhere this occurred TV was
  introduced 15 years before.

42
So what causes it?

• Why 15? That is how long it takes kids to grow
  up.
• We exposed them to violent media between the ages
  of two and six, which convinced them that the
  world is a dark and violent place, and then 15
  years later, when they are teenagers or in their
  early 20s, we reap what we sowed.
• Dr. Centerwall stated that if, television
  technology had never been developed, there would
  today be 10,000 fewer murders each year in the
  United States, 70,000 fewer rapes, and 700,000
  fewer injurious assaults.

43
So what causes it?

• Since 1950 there has been more than 3500 research
  studies conducted in America on the effects of
  media violence.
• One random sample of almost 1000 studies found
  that all, save only 18 demonstrated there is a
  tangible correlation between violent
  entertainment and violent behavior.
• Twelve of those eighteen were funded by the
  television industry.

44
So what causes it?

• The popular preschool show Power Rangers has
  about two hundred acts of violence per hour.
• The adolescents who committed the horrendous
  crimes in Jonesboro, Paducah, and Littleton, were
  weaned on GI Joe and She-Ra- cartoons averaging
  25 acts of violence per hours.
• Most children who are traumatized and brutalized
  through their exposure to violent media do not
  become violent, but they do become depressed and
  fearful.
• Those who do become violent turn into bullies.

45
Indiana University Brain Scan Research

• Mid brain (4-Fs)
• Fight
• Flight
• Feed
• Fornicate
• Violent imagery is the addictive ingredient for
  TV/video games
• It feeds the mid brain

46
Indiana University Brain Scan Research

• Right brain
• Artistic side
• (my right brain is broken)
• Left Brain
• Logic side
• Has no activity for violent videogame players
  (intense playing) vs. high activity for
  non-player.

47
Indiana University Brain Scan Research

• The brain scans I will show you next show that
  media violence stunts or "retards" kids' brain
  development
• children with violent TV, movie, and video game
  exposure had reduced cognitive brain function.
• Media violence also makes violent brains
• violent TV, movie, and video game exposure had an
  effect on normal kids that made their brain scans
  the same as children with documented, diagnosed
  Aggressive Behavior Disorder.

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Indiana University Brain Scan Research
49
Indiana University Brain Scan Research
50
Indiana University Brain Scan Research

• This second set of brain scans shows brain
  activity during a decision making exercise,
  called Go-No-Go.

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Indiana University Brain Scan Research
52
Indiana University Brain Scan Research
53
Indiana University Brain Scan Research

• When it comes to looking into the future,
  weighing consequences and making decisions, the
  low media violence exposure group is using a lot
  of the logical part of their brain
• Brain effects are reversible in about three days.

54
Plan of Action

• Reduce time in front of the tube
• Remove TVs and computers from bedrooms.
• Having children in front of either device without
  some type of supervision is a recipe for
  disaster.
• Empower your kids
• Let them learn martial arts, music, art, sports,
  etc.
• Band is questionable ?

55
Plan of Action

• Build childrens language and reading skills.
• Help your children become articulate readers and
  writers.
• Since the prefrontal cortex (part of the brain)
  is an important component in dampening impulsive,
  and aggressive behavior, children and teens with
  strong language abilities and problem solving
  skills are ore apt to be able to control
  themselves.

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Plan of Action

• Take an interest in your kids video games.
• Point out how often women are placed in victims
  roles.
• Show them how fast paced the game is to keep them
  hyped up.
• Pick up a gaming magazine like PC Gamer and read
  the advertisements.
• Gratuitous Violence is 200 times faster with a
  D-Link Network.
• Destroying Your Enemies isnt EnoughYou Must
  Devour Their Souls.