[Dion]

Originally Posted by Burninator

I asked this earlier in the thread. But what are you suppose to do? Of course in retrospect the signs are as clear as day. But lots of people are troubled or write about dark things. You obviously can't lock these people up or send them to an asylum. They have to show signs that they will commit acts of violence either on themselves or others, or commit a crime/violent act. Only then can you make them go to jail, counselling, take medication etc. But you can't do that to someone who writes about disturbing factious events or listens to angry music. Even idol threats are a sketchy area too.

Stephen King wrote a short novel called Rage about a student walking into his school and shooting people. Now the circumstances are not the same as this one, but you can't make Stephen King go see a psychologist.

Now where that line is of someone being disturbed to cause concern but is harmless and a disturbed someone causing harm, I don't know. I am just trying to make the point that if everyone who acts similar to this case I bet the lines to psychologists offices would be out the door. I think cases like this are so isolated that they are almost unavoidable.

The killer was a social recluse who rarely talked to anyone. Even his room mates and profs had trouble getting any words out of him. To me that's not a very common behaviour. I remeber kids in HS being social recluses but never to the extreme that the killer went.

I also thought it was kind of odd that students who were to grade his writings were careful what they said as they felt saying any thing too negative might set him off. To that indicates some fear. If you think a student is normal then why be careful how you word your review?

The school tried to get him into counseling. Plus he was also on antidepressants. That alone indicates the school new something was wrong. Problem is they didn't push this far enough.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7265139/

Students who could possibly present a threat to themselves and others may intentionally or unintentionally reveal clues to their thoughts and intentions that may suggest a propensity to commit an act of violence. This clue letting or as a profiler or a psychologist would say "leakage," may be a lonely cry for help or the solicitous actions of an individual looking for assistance in his plan to act out violently against others. Many shooters exhibit narcissistic and psychopathic personalities, traits that should be obvious to school officials, but characteristics that may be disguised or simply viewed as normal adolescent challenges.

Should a threat emanate from a student it should be immediately followed up on by the school administration and/or law enforcement. Study has shown that threats many times preceded school shootings, but they were dismissed as the frustrations of youth instead of looking at such threats as a marker along the path of an escalation process, one that, in the extreme, may lead to violence in the school setting. Although most students will not follow up on their threats, such continue to be one of the best pre-indicators of potential violence and should not simply be dismissed as the hollow words of a troubled youth.