School shootings have been all too common in poor, inner city areas for decades, but they only became a media sensation when they began to occur in white, middle class suburbs. Only then did the general public wonder why children would kill their fellow students and teachers.

In 1996-1997, stories about school shootings by students in Washington, Alaska, Mississippi, Kentucky, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Oregon began to appear on the nightly news. On April 20, 1999, the Columbine shootings became the symbolic case study of psychologically troubled youth committing vicious murders in suburban schools across America. Many of the perpetrators had been bullied for years by their peers and many had been psychologically troubled. Bullying desensitizes all involved-the bullies, the targets, the witnesses-and makes it more likely that they may resort to violence to resolve their problems.

The important question is whether bullying causes the psychological problems or whether it is the presence of psychological problems that leads kids to being bullied. A strong case can be made that both contribute equally. In other words, psychologically troubled youth are more likely to be the targets of bullying; bullying also exacerbates the psychological problems of the targets and can even cause psychological problems in victims who did not have them before.

Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had both been bullied for years. They complained to the principal of their school, though many of their fellow classmates admitted that the bullying was not stopped or discouraged sufficiently to make their lives any easier. The shooter at Virginia Tech was also bullied in school and had psychiatric problems that were not being effectively treated.

We need a mental health policy that (1) protects children who are victimized by bullies and teaches them and the bullies how to respect one another and interact in less destructive ways, and (2) ensures that troubled children and youth receive appropriate psychological treatment.

Adolescent brain development is marked by immaturity of frontal lobe functions; as a result, adolescents often do not think of the consequences of their actions before they do something they may later regret. It is up to the adults in a civilized society to protect those children who are most vulnerable to teasing (e.g., shy, withdrawn, mocked and gawky-looking kids), ensure that bullies are punished adequately and that bullying behavior does not persist. It does take a village to raise a child, and it is the responsibility of that village to ensure that all children follow the rules against bullying.

It is in all our interests to prevent bullying before its future victims imitate the violent reprisals they have seen from other bullying victims in media reports. Shooters such as those at Columbine and Virginia Tech may have been victims once, but now, after becoming assailants themselves and then taking their own lives, they may be seen as heroes (or martyrs) to fellow troubled youth who also seek revenge on those who once harmed them. This may sound highly unlikely, but who would ever have thought that two “awkward” teenagers could have caused so much death and despair in Colorado in the first place?

Joshua is a graduate student in the Brown School of Social Work. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

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