Names: Eric Harris Dylan Klebold
Incidents: Killed 12 students, 1 teachers, 24 injured, killed themselves
Affect: The worst school shooting in United States history, the incident horrified America and the world, and triggered a series of copycat shootings at schools in the United States and Canada. Because Harris and Klebold had amassed such a formidable cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosives, the incident also spurred an intense debate about gun laws in America.
SIgnifigance:
* A CNN survey conducted in August 1999 discovered that four out of five middle school students behave like bullies at least once in a month, indulging in name-calling, teasing, beating, and threatening other students. * Bullies single out others who don't fit in and subject them to torment. If bullying is left uncontrolled, its victims often develop severe hostility and may even resort to serious acts of violence. * Victims drift away into a world of emptiness and delusion. Such children often become extremely isolated and may resort to violence. * Bullying behavior is often reinforced by media, movies, television programs, and video games targeted at adolescents and teenagers that depict extensive violence. Easy access to guns is also a factor. * Nearly 49 percent of American households own a firearm.
Source Citation
"Columbine High School Security Video Shows Klebold and Harris in Cafeteria." Crime and Punishment: Essential Primary Sources. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 118-120. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 8 Feb. 2013.
Document URL http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CCX2588900060&userGroupName=imcpl_indy&jsid=11e5f9db7dadadcd9ad4104ed1e944af * 46% of males, and 26% of females reported they had been in physical fights. (Bureau of Justice, 2001)
• Teenagers say revenge is the strongest motivation for school shootings. (Bureau of Justice, 2001)
• 86% said, "other kids picking on them, making fun of them or bullying them" causes teenagers to turn to lethal violence in the schools. (Bureau of Justice, 2001)
• 87% said shootings are motivated by a desire to "get back at those who have hurt them." (Bureau of Justice, 2001)
• 54% said witnessing physical