As discussed in lecture, homicide refers to the interaction between two people that results in the intentional death of one of the individuals. When analyzing homicide through Douglas’s (1997) lens, homicide can be a communicative act of aggression that can be traced back to the interactions of the two individuals. This approach provides us with a framework to trace the sequences of event that can influence a person to commit such violent act. This framework can help us understand gang homicides, mass school shootings and even domestic violence to name a few. Nevertheless, there have been increases and declines in the homicide rates across the years. However, when examining the characteristics of the individuals involved with homicide, there
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The Columbine shooting provided a model that has inspired others to commit such an act. In their article, they analyze the cultural meaning behind school shootings and study how school shooters use cultural products such as books, films, music and now the internet to follow cultural scripts for school shootings (248). Along with that the authors make it clear that school shooters apparently do not belong to any specific subculture group, but the majority have been white males. Therefore, in terms of the characteristics of school shooters, it is hard to predict who the person will be because there are no patterns; rather the social structures are what can lead an individual to commit such a crime. Kiilakaoski and Oksanen make reference to Webber (2003), which argues that we need to understand that school shootings are embedded in social practices, therefore, school shooters may respond this way as a way to show his dissatisfaction with the school’s environment (265). Sometimes the schools themselves create the environments that perpetuate someone feeling like an outsider. Therefore, Fox and Harding in their article draw on two school shooting case studies and show how the organizational structure, environment, and culture of the schools all led to the loss of information of troubled students, information that might help the staff deal with the student and intervene and prevent things like this from happening. In other words, it is the cracks in the system that allows things like this to happen, therefore, the individuals behind these actions are those who have been ignored and treated as
The Columbine shooting provided a model that has inspired others to commit such an act. In their article, they analyze the cultural meaning behind school shootings and study how school shooters use cultural products such as books, films, music and now the internet to follow cultural scripts for school shootings (248). Along with that the authors make it clear that school shooters apparently do not belong to any specific subculture group, but the majority have been white males. Therefore, in terms of the characteristics of school shooters, it is hard to predict who the person will be because there are no patterns; rather the social structures are what can lead an individual to commit such a crime. Kiilakaoski and Oksanen make reference to Webber (2003), which argues that we need to understand that school shootings are embedded in social practices, therefore, school shooters may respond this way as a way to show his dissatisfaction with the school’s environment (265). Sometimes the schools themselves create the environments that perpetuate someone feeling like an outsider. Therefore, Fox and Harding in their article draw on two school shooting case studies and show how the organizational structure, environment, and culture of the schools all led to the loss of information of troubled students, information that might help the staff deal with the student and intervene and prevent things like this from happening. In other words, it is the cracks in the system that allows things like this to happen, therefore, the individuals behind these actions are those who have been ignored and treated as