Kimberly Sacchi, Angela Cholewa, and Theron Bullcock
Criminal Justice, Behavior, and Law
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Christina Lane
High School & College Shooters Correlates and Prevalence to Different Motives
When looking at school shootings, there is at least one student or faculty member that is either killed or critically injured. School shootings of both high school and colleges can be analyzed and interpreted to better understand background, motivation, and the psychological evaluation of a school shooter. This study will focus on high school and college shooters' background and psychological assessment. Specific factors that will be considered are expressions of fantasy (video games, drawings, videotapes), mental illness (suicidal thoughts), trauma (violence, abuse, neglect, loss, or emotionally harmful experiences), home environment (patterns of behavior, thinking, beliefs, traditions, that exist in the family), and school environment (culture, customs and values that exist at school). Considering these variables may will help researchers understand what motivates a school shooter and how they can be further used to prevent future school shootings.