Abstract
This chapter is an international extension of previous work, in which the authors developed a sequential explanatory model of the factors implicated in American school rampages (cases in which three or more people are killed or injured by current or former students of the targeted school or college) and identified the following cumulative stages: chronic strain, uncontrolled strain, acute strain, the planning stage, and the massacre. Here, recent cases of rampage school shootings outside of the United States are examined, applying the same selection criteria as the previous American study, in order to determine the extent to which the multi-stage explanatory model may be generalized internationally. Despite important international variations, the model is found to apply remarkably well to international incidents of multiple-victim school shootings and suggest implications for prevention and future research.
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Notes
- 1.
Please note that we have not included offender suicides in the death count, something we suggest generally as a good operational practice. In the case of the Montreal rampage on September 13, 2006, Gill is listed as a former student, although he attacked Dawson College rather than his nearby alma mater, Vanier College, which he attended without graduating. A notepad police found in his car also indicated his intention to take his killing spree to other venues, including Vanier College (Who Was Kimveer, 2008). As the table indicates, very little data was available in English on the Veghal, Taiuva, Pak Phanang, and Patagones cases.
- 2.
Langman (2009a, b) argues that school rampage killers may be typologized into traumatized, psychotic, and psychopathic categories. While our notion of strain fits most closely with that of traumatized rampage killers, we readily acknowledge the causal role that psychosis plays in some of these cases, though other mental health concerns such as depression and suicidal ideation are far more common. We do, however, dispute the notion that psychopathy plays a vital role in many cases, for unlike most serial killers, who lack empathy for others and revel in identifying as predators, the majority of rampage school shooters and other mass murderers are far more likely to view themselves as fundamentally moral victims of unjust treatment (Fox & Levin, 2011).
- 3.
We do not intend to suggest that being different, befriending people who are out of the mainstream, or participating in youth subcultures (which are, more frequently than not, pro-social cultural endeavors) usually facilitates a move to violence. The fact that the name “Trenchcoat Mafia” was initially created not by its members but rather by other students at Columbine High as a derogatory term for the friendship clique (Larkin, 2007) indicates just how potentially dangerous it can be for school administrators and teachers to utilize outsider status as a warning sign for murderous behavior. Rather than reduce a potential threat, this approach can doubly victimize already marginalized students through negative attention from school authorities.
- 4.
Additional acute strains seemed to be present in the Veghal and Pak Phangang incidents. However, without additional background data, the exact circumstances (and presence of various additional factors) are difficult to discern. The school shooter in Veghel, the Netherlands (Ali D.) was reportedly attempting to avenge the honor of his sister who had been involved in a failed relationship with another student at the school. Anucha Boonkwan, a student at Pak Phangang high school outside of Bangkok, Thailand, opened fire on fellow students, killing two and injuring another four, while they lined up in the morning to sing the national anthem. A day earlier, Boonkwan had suffered a humiliating loss of face in a fistfight with one of his classmates.
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Madfis, E., Levin, J. (2013). School Rampage in International Perspective: The Salience of Cumulative Strain Theory. In: Böckler, N., Seeger, T., Sitzer, P., Heitmeyer, W. (eds) School Shootings. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5526-4_4
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