Traits and attributes of School Violence

I am co-chairing the Threat Management Committee at school where we are discussing a "system" for proactively addressing threatening, violent school behavior. The committee is in a stall and earlier this week a boy killed 9 people at his school in Minnesota. The FBI has identified common traits in 18 school shootings. The traits are summarized below.

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Traits and attributes

In 2000, a year after the shootings at Columbine High School, the FBI published a two-year study of 18 school shootings. The researchers found the assailants tended to share 28 personal traits, six family attributes, seven school traits and five social traits.

Chief among the 28 personal traits the assailants tended to share was something known as "leakage," described as intentional or unintentional actions that reveal feelings, thoughts, fantasies or other clues "that may signal an impending violent act." Such clues may include threats, boasts or predictions.

In a post to a National Socialist Web site's discussion forum last April, Weise wrote, "By the way, I'm being blamed for a threat on the school I attend because someone said they were going to shoot up the school on 4/20, Hitlers birthday, and just because I claim being a National Socialist, guess whom they've pinned?"

He never denied that he made the threat, but five weeks later he wrote, "... the school threat passed and I was cleared as a suspect, I'm glad for that."

Leakage also could be exhibited in the recurrent themes that show up in a student's writings or artwork. Classmates said Weise drew comic books with frightening drawings of people shooting each other, as well as zombies. Many of the figures he drew wore German Wehrmacht officer hats.

Other personal traits the FBI found include a low tolerance for frustration, poor coping skills, depression, alienation, a sense of superiority, masking of low self-esteem, a lack of empathy, intolerance, an exaggerated sense of entitlement, refusal to take responsibility for actions and problems managing anger.

Families and schools

The FBI found that the families of student assailants tended to exhibit six common traits. They included a turbulent parent-child relationship, the parents' acceptance of pathological behavior, lack of intimacy, no limits or monitoring of TV or Internet use, access to weapons and a dominance in the household.

Again, Weise's life seemed to incorporate several of those traits. He lived with his grandparents because his father committed suicide four years ago and his mother was living in a Minneapolis nursing home because of head injuries suffered in a car accident. His grandfather — who was among Weise's victims — was a member of the tribal police department, and the FBI has said the youth used his grandfather's firearms in his assault on the school.

Among the school traits were a tolerance of disrespectful behavior, inequitable discipline, "inflexible culture," and teachers and staff giving some students more prestige and respect than other students.

Because of unspecified problems, Weise wasn't allowed at the school and was part of a program in which a school tutor came to his home.

The FBI found that among the social dynamics shared by the school assailants were easy and unmonitored access to violent movies, television, video games and Internet sites; use of drugs and alcohol; a peer group that accepts his behavior; and his interests outside of school.

The limits of profiling

The FBI study said attempts to identify the next would-be school gunman by coming up with a profile was near impossible. "This may sound like a reasonable preventative measure, but in practice, trying to draw up a catalogue or 'checklist' of warning signs to detect a potential school shooter can be shortsighted, even dangerous," the report said.

The reason: "Such lists, publicized by the media, can end up unfairly labeling many nonviolent students as potentially dangerous or even lethal. In fact, a great many adolescents who will never commit violent acts will show some of the behaviors or personality traits included on the list."