Theories Of Columbine Shooting

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Recommended: Juvenile Delinquency in contemporary society

Himaja Ramayanam
April 9th, 2014
The columbine shooting and theories that apply to the killers
This essay is going to talk about one of the deadliest school shootings that killed 13 students and injured several. On April 20, 1999 two teens went on a shooting spree killing 13 and wounded several more before turning the guns on to them killing themselves. The columbine shooting one of the worst shootings in U.S history raised a debate on the gun control and school safety. This essay is going to bring out the real cause of the shooters actions and apply two juvenile delinquency theories to them.
On April 20 1999, in a small town of Littleton, Colorado, two high-school seniors, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris dressed in trench coats began shooting outside of columbine high school. The two boys then moved inside the school and gunned down many students in the library. Upon investigation it was found that the two boys arrived in two separate cars. At first they went into the school with two duffle bags filled with bombs set to the time 11:17, placed these bags in the cafeteria aiming to kill hundreds of students and faculty. They set these bags in the cafeteria without anyone noticing and came out to their cars to watch. When the bombs failed to detonate Dylan and Harris went on a shooting spree.
Background about the shooters:
Eric Harris: Born on April 9, 1981, in Kansas. Harris’s father has been in the U.S.Air force and had moved the family several times before he retired and move his family to Littleton, Colorado in 1993. Harris was talkative and volatile. Harris did not fit in the school and started developing hatred for the school.
Dylan Klebold: Born on September 11, 1981 in Colorado, Klebo...

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...ates that school shootings occur when perpetrator’s bond to the society weaken, also known as decrease in social capital. Referring to writing in Harris’s dairy on how much he hated the world explains how he was detached from the society and how he developed hatred against society.
Another theory that could relate to the columbine shooting is the age graded theory by Sampson and Laub where the delinquent behavior is a result of a life event. Harris dad being an air force officer moved to different places so much that Harris never had a chance to stay in place and make friends. Moving to so many places could be a life changing event that could impact on his social life And Klebold being a quite and shy person and his depression towards not being able to blend in any clique made him vulnerable to bullying, which could be considered a life changing event.

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