4 Troubled Teens Blog

A professor at Yeshiva University has put together a profile of the typical school shooter in his new book, Ceremonial Violence.

According to Dr. Jonathan Fast, the typical student who goes on a shooting rampage at a school is a male in a rural, evangelistic community who has a high-achieving brother or sister.

• The typical shooter suffers from "malignant narcissism," depression and paranoia, and has a severe learning disability.


• He spends part of his school day in a "resource room" with other disturbed children, and feels like "damaged goods."


• He appears impulsive and overly dramatic, and demonstrates little feeling toward others.


• He may have tried to date girls, but was always rejected.


• He has one or two friends at most.


• He is likely to dress in black and wear piercings.


• Part of his plan is to kill himself after the rampage.

Dr. Fast believes that while some parents are able to recognize danger signs of mental illness in their children and get them into therapy, most cases result in the child becoming sicker and sicker. Though he believes that reform schools and boot camps only teach teens to become adult criminals, he writes that therapeutic boarding schools can help many of these boys, even at the "eleventh hour."

Labels: violence, angry, juvenile_crime

Posted By: Aspen Education Group