Juvenile+Violence Essay, Research Paper

Emanuel Mullins

Enwr 106

2/7/00

Juvenile Violence-The latest fad?

Two male childs at an Arkansas in-between school killed four misss and one instructor in what constabulary called a carefully planned ambuscade on the afternoon of Tuesday March 25, 1998. Nine other misss and one other instructor were besides wounded in the onslaught at the Westside Middle School, located in a quiet rural country merely west of Jonesboro, Arkansas. In a similar incident in Littleton, Colorado, two pupils, cloaked in black trench coats and armed with guns and bombs, opened fire on the forenoon of Tuesday April 21, 1999 at Columbine High School, killing 15 people and injuring 28 others in the worst school hiting in U.S. history. What do both of these real-life scenarios have in common? All of these offenses were committed by juveniles or immature grownups. What is it that ignites such force in troubled juveniles such as the 1s mentioned? Many different factors cause violent behaviour. In this paper I will research the roots of juvenile force in order to understand why the flagitious Acts of the Apostless in Jonesboro, Arkansas and Littleton, Colorado were committed.

Violence is non committed without a ground. Violence is the act of deliberately aching person. A figure of grounds could take to a violent eruption. Individually, the more factors present in one & # 8217 ; s life, the more likely that individual is to perpetrate an act of force. Some factors that contribute to violent behavior include:

& # 183 ; places where parents are opprobrious or absent

& # 183 ; Need for attending or regard

& # 183 ; Feeling invariably disrespected

& # 183 ; Access to or captivation with guns

Each of the features above can be summed up into two major classs, household jobs, and societal jobs.

Social jobs were present in both the Westside Middle School and the Columbine High School slayings. One thing that was associated with all of the slayings was strong-arming. Bullying is where a kid or group of kids maintain taking advantage of the power they have to ache or reject person else. Some immature people are bullied for many grounds, but chiefly because they will non stand up for themselves. Having been victims of intimidation, Harris and Klebold were invariably disrespected. “ He [ Harris ] was traveling after athletes. He hated them with a passion, because they ever made merriment of him and they ever threatened him. They did it particularly his sophomore twelvemonth, and he merely hated them. ” Why make some kids bully? The chief ground kids bully is to acquire attending or do other people afraid of them. In 13-year-old Mitchell & # 8217 ; s instance, he was a bully and was reported to hold been upset because of miss jobs ( rejection ) . Another thing in common with both slaying instances is that the victimisers had easy entree to guns. “ ? Access to guns is the biggest forecaster for people perpetrating homicides. If childs don & # 8217 ; Ts have guns, these sort of state of affairss don & # 8217 ; t escalate as fast? ” Eleven-year-old Andrew Golden learned to hit from his male parent. Prior to the Columbine High School slayings Eric Harris would speak of purchasing guns in category. “ Harris talked invariably in doctrine category of purchasing a gun, particularly since he late turned 18-years-old. ”

Family jobs, the 2nd major categor

Y of juvenile force are possibly the most prevailing cause of juvenile force. “ To oversimplify it grossly, parents are non making the occupations they used to make in footings of conveying values to childs. The slack is being picked up by the amusement universe, whether it’s telecasting or films or knap music or picture games. ” On the same note, a staff psychologist mentioning to the Columbine High School slayings provinces, “ Violent kids live in places where parents are opprobrious and absent. A batch of times, an absent male parent is a forecaster for violent aggressive males. ” As was the instance with both 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson of the Westside Middle School slayings and 18-year-old Eric Harris of the Columbine High School slayings. Research indicates that the one individual being the most capable of altering the antisocial aggression of a male child is his biological male parent. Johnson’s parents were divorced and Johnson seldom saw his male parent. In a similar state of affairs Harris’s male parent was immersed in the Marines up until the clip he retired and settled down in Littleton, Colorado, in 1993. In both state of affairss, Johnson and Harris lacked the demand for attending and regard, something that is needed most by kids at the earlier phases of their life.

So what causes person to plug, kick, knife, or fire a gun at person or even him/herself? Why did the unreliable slayings of Westside Middle School and Columbine High School occur? Violence can be used as a means to command others or acquire something the victimiser wants. In both instances, the liquidators used force as a manner to let go of their feelings of choler and defeat. They resorted to violence to revenge against people who had mistreated them. If all male parents ( married and divorced ) invested their clip more in their kids, male and female, so juvenile force could be reduced significantly. Besides, if schools focused more on the pupils instead than monitoring and confining them, so the rate of juvenile force at schools could be reduced. Furthermore, if entree to guns for juveniles were reduced, so the overall happening for juvenile force could be reduced. We all need to come to clasps with the terrorization world of juvenile force. Because of a deficiency of attending and regard at place and school, the monetary value that we are paying as a society is the de-moralization of our American civilization by at-risk striplings. These kids and immature grownups have nowhere to turn to but force. Why should we go on to concentrate on constructing a better and brighter hereafter without holding focused on the existent hereafter, today & # 8217 ; s young person?

Bibliography

American Psychological Association Help Center. Warning Signs. Jan 1999. American

Psychological Association. & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //helping.apa.org/warningsigns/index.html & gt ; .

Eddy, Mark. “ Shooter Told Friend: Get Out of Here. ” Denver Post 20 April 1999

& lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //denverpost.com/news/shot0420aa.htm & gt ; .

Kastor, Elizabeth. “ What Makes Children Kill. ” Washington Post 27 March 1998: C1.

Lowe, Peggy. “ Alike and Different. ” Denver Post 2 May 1999

& lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //denverpost.com/news/shot0502a.htm & gt ; .

Martin, Claire. “ Warning Signs to Watch For. ” Denver Post 21 April 1999

& lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //denverpost.com/news/shot0420j.htm & gt ; .

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