School Violence

Ten years after the school massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, school shootings are a new and alarming epidemic. While sociologists have attributed the trigger of violence to peer pressure, such as bullying and social isolation, prominent psychologist Peter Langman, argues here that psychological causes are responsible. Drawing on 20 years of clinical experience, Langman offers surprising reasons for why some teens become violent. Langman divides shooters into three categories, and he discusses the role of personality, trauma, and psychosis among school shooters.

Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets. Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year.

Best friends Tamanna and Yasmine cannot believe their good fortune when a school is set up in their Afghan village; however, their dreams for the future are shattered when the Taliban burn down the school and threaten the teacher and students with death. As Tamanna faces an arranged marriage to an older man, and the Taliban target Yasmine’s Western-educated family, the girls realize they must flee.

Analyzes 13 school “rampage” shootings—including the Columbine High School massacre—and explains, for the first time, why teenagers commit these tragic atrocities. With his grasp of the elements of abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, sociology, and neurology that contribute to the homicidal mindset, Fast offers us a means of understanding and coming to terms with these shootings, and provides examples of what we should look for as early signs to prevent further tragedies.

Beck and Vivian never could stand each other, but they always tried their best for their mutual friend, Cassie. After the town moves on from Cassie’s murder too fast, Beck and Vivian finally find common ground: vengeance. They memorialize Cassie by secretly painting murals of her around town, a message to the world that Cassie won’t be forgotten. But Beck and Vivian are keeping secrets, like the third passenger riding in Beck’s VW bus with them - Cassie’s ghost.

On the Wrong Side provides the first comprehensive account of the inner workings of the secretive Title IX system. Drawing on a yearlong study of survivors, perpetrators, and the administrators who oversaw their cases, sociologist Nicole Bedera exposes the structures that predictably punish survivors who come forward in the service of protecting—or even rewarding—their perpetrators. She reveals that the system tasked with ending gender inequality on campus only intensifies it, upending survivors’ lives and threatening their degrees.

Community leaders and activists Gómez and Arroyo worked with children, teenagers, and parents - both the victims and the bullies - to put together this searing anthology of original essays, poetry, plays, and commentary on how bullying has affected their lives.

Cameron: "Deep inside, you know that whoever gets up in your face gets there because he knows you're nothing, and he knows that you know it too."

School of Errors: Rethinking School Safety in America establishes another voice in the discussion of how to promote safe schools. It challenges the unchecked expansion of school fortification and questions the realized benefit of interagency collaboration during a sentinel event. This book offers an alternative to traumatizing simulations by providing clear options for improving school safety through leakage detection and sensemaking. School of Errors restores the scientific method to school safety and clears a path through the media rhetoric fogging this vital topic.

Gang violence and mass shooting prevention are critical issues in the contemporary world. It is first and foremost a matter of life preservation. These violent acts result in the unfortunate demise of innocent lives, and it is a fundamental responsibility to safeguard communities and individuals from the profound repercussions of trauma and violence by preventing their occurrence. Additionally, safeguarding the public is an essential component of society. Gang violence and mass shootings erode confidence in institutions and law enforcement by fostering an environment of terror and insecurity.

The mother of a bullied first grader, popular blogger Carrie Goldman's inspiring true story triggered an outpouring of support from online communities around the world. In Bullied, she gives us a guide to the crucial lessons and actionable guidance she's learned about how to stop bullying before it starts. It is a book born from Goldman's post about the ridicule her daughter suffered from bringing a Star Wars thermos to school.

Being a teenager has never been easy, but in recent years, with the rise of the Internet and social media, it has become exponentially more challenging. Bullying, once thought of as the province of queen bees and goons, has taken on new, complex, and insidious forms, as parents and educators know all too well.

Bloomland opens during finals week at a fictional southern university, when a student walks into the library with his roommate's semi-automatic rifle and opens fire. When he stops shooting, 12 people are dead. In this richly textured debut, John Englehardt explores how the origin and aftermath of the shooting impacts the lives of three characters: a disillusioned student, a grieving professor, and a young man whose valuation of fear and disconnection funnels him into the role of the aggressor.

Glimmer of Hope tells the story of how a group of teenagers raced to channel their rage and sorrow into action and went on to create one of the largest youth-led movements in global history.

Dills and his mom have returned to Hamilton, her hometown, hoping to leave the horrors of Windsor behind. But it's impossible to escape the echoes of tragedy, and trouble always follows trouble. When Dills hurts a new classmate, it comes out in court that he was in the Windsor High library when the shooter came in. But he won't talk about what he saw, what he still sees whenever he closes his eyes.

At the beginning of the Cold War, Humphrey left a teaching position at MIT to help lead the struggle against Communism. Finding that US education was contributing to rather than reducing American overseas problems, he developed a new leadership approach that overcame "ugly American" syndrome among hundreds of thousands in crucial third world areas. More recently his methodology won commendations for educating the alleged uneducable....

In 10 Minutes to Live, you will learn how you can use A.L.I.V.E. to help calm your mind and make a plan. It involves learning how to access a situation as soon as the active shooter appears, as well as understanding the best ways to respond given your surroundings to increase your probability of survival, and what to do once the situation has ended. Following this book and the A.L.I.V.E protocol can help you act more efficiently in a chaotic situation.

How do we prevent the next school shooting? By knowing the warning signs. Dr. Langman's timely book presents practical, research-based guidance on anticipating and preventing mass attacks. Warning Signs is for all members of a school community, including school personnel, mental health professionals, law enforcement officers, parents, and students. Drawing on lessons learned from dozens of thwarted plots and deadly attacks, Warning Signs provides the insight necessary to keep schools safe.

In All Clear, safety expert Chris Joffe shows district and school leaders how to create safety in school environments and develop a plan for responding effectively in the event of emergency—whether it be from an allergy attack or an active shooter. In our ever-changing educational and cultural landscape, this is a critical resource. A sought-after safety trainer and consultant for schools, Chris draws on decades of experience to guide and empower district and school leaders to prepare for and execute crucial next steps in the wake of a school emergency.

Too often, fatherlessness and dysfunctional families are mentioned as possible contributing causes among school shooters and other killers. But just as quickly, it is all ignored as the conversation moves on to other topics—most often to guns, mental health, or security failures. Those things often fit the agendas of politicians and the news media. Yet, when we look at killers of all sorts and of all ages, the shared foundation among the vast majority of them—is fatherlessness. Almost all of the most deadly killers throughout the whole of history were fatherless.