Across the board, the perpetrators of homicide are 18 to 35 years old. With rare occasion the victims are the same age.
| Victim/offender relationship | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intimate | 1.5% | 46.7% | 34.3% | 17.5% | 1.0% | 46.2% | 34.9% | 17.9% | ||
| Family | 19.6% | 31.9% | 26.4% | 22.1% | 6.0% | 49.1% | 28.1% | 16.8% | ||
| Infanticide | 100.0% | 7.9% | 81.3% | 9.7% | 1.1% | |||||
| Eldercide | 100.0% | 10.3% | 49.2% | 19.1% | 21.4% | |||||
| Circumstances | ||||||||||
| Felony murder | 7.6% | 46.9% | 21.8% | 23.8% | 14.8% | 72.9% | 10.3% | 2.0% | ||
| Sex related | 19.6% | 45.1% | 16.6% | 18.7% | 10.7% | 73.6% | 13.7% | 2.0% | ||
| Drug related | 5.4% | 71.4% | 19.9% | 3.3% | 10.6% | 76.9% | 11.3% | 1.2% | ||
| Gang related | 24.2% | 68.4% | 6.1% | 1.3% | 28.9% | 69.2% | 1.6% | .3% | ||
| Argument | 5.5% | 56.1% | 26.3% | 12.2% | 6.9% | 60.2% | 23.1% | 9.7% | ||
| Workplace | .5% | 28.0% | 32.0% | 39.5% | 3.7% | 53.1% | 27.6% | 15.5% | ||
| Weapon | ||||||||||
| Gun homicide | 7.4% | 59.3% | 22.4% | 10.9% | 11.9% | 64.8% | 15.8% | 7.5% | ||
| Arson | 28.3% | 27.0% | 19.2% | 25.5% | 11.5% | 57.7% | 23.8% | 7.0% | ||
| Poison | 28.0% | 23.3% | 16.5% | 32.2% | 4.5% | 50.9% | 26.2% | 18.5% | ||
| Multiple victims or offenders | ||||||||||
| Multiple victims | 18.2% | 46.3% | 19.1% | 16.4% | 9.5% | 66.1% | 18.5% | 5.9% | ||
If we are to effect these rates then we need to address the mental health of our 18 to 35 year olds and primarily male.
Mental Health statistics can be interesting. But, in cases where crime is the issue there is commonly ONE TRUTH and that is the PERCENTAGES of incidence are primarily predictable.
A statistic analysis of the heinous Connecticut crime almost predicts the crime itself. Same is true in Colorado.
Wealthy neighborhood. Majority caucasian. Because a mass murderer has to be able to afford the weapons, the ammunition and the jaded ambition of young men oriented toward violence defined in a powerful self.
...Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were radically different individuals, with vastly different motives and opposite mental conditions. Klebold is easier to comprehend, a more familiar type. He was hotheaded, but depressive and suicidal. He blamed himself for his problems.,,,
Harris is the challenge. He was sweet-faced and well-spoken. Adults, and even some other kids, described him as "nice." But Harris was cold, calculating, and homicidal. "Klebold was hurting inside while Harris wanted to hurt people," Fuselier says. Harris was not merely a troubled kid, the psychiatrists say, he was a psychopath....
...Their slaughter (click here) was aimed at students and teachers, but it was not motivated by resentment of them in particular. Students and teachers were just convenient quarry, what Timothy McVeigh described as "collateral damage."...
The fact of the matter of whether or not we can control these events lies in the social ability to act. Do we act on the individual or do we act on the exterior forces? Or. Do we do both?
I recently watched a documentary called Bowling for Columbine. (click here) It's basically about a high school massacre in Columbine High School and the director's thoughts on gun violence.
Anyways I really want to talk about the high school shooting a bit more. It's the second deadliest attack on a school and the deadliest school shooting. The two shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and teachers and injured 24 others. The documentary I mentioned earlier has detailed footage of what had happened through the security cameras (boy were they brutal). These two students were "out-casts" of the school and were full of hatred towards their fellow students.
Anyways I really want to talk about the high school shooting a bit more. It's the second deadliest attack on a school and the deadliest school shooting. The two shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and teachers and injured 24 others. The documentary I mentioned earlier has detailed footage of what had happened through the security cameras (boy were they brutal). These two students were "out-casts" of the school and were full of hatred towards their fellow students.
Michael Moore is an absolute genius. I became interested in 'Who is this guy?" when his film "Fahrenheit 911" was being banned from release to the public during the Bush years. (See, Putin is not far from correct when he states what is good enough for the USA is good enough for Russia. The difference is the citizens don't put up with it.)
Moore's work between films, television segments, radio programs and books are really works of love of citizens of the USA. He stares down those in the USA that would seek to victimize others in healthcare and otherwise. The KKK was his favorite dialogue when he was in radio. He grew up awash of violence, mastered 'the gun' and joined the NRA. But, never once did he accept the idea a gun's power in human hands had to carry out its ultimate purpose. He always, always believed a gun owner could and should control the use of their guns. That understanding is embodied in The Second Amendment of the USA.
The event in Connecticut. The slaughtering of innocent children was deranged. There is no other definition. Some would say this is the scheme of a murder-suicide. I don't think that is it. I sincerely believe the shooter was attempting to get his hands on guns. He was unable to when asked to be cleared through a background check. He killed his mother for the guns, not matricide. His desire for killing was greater than the hate for his mother. I actually don't believe he hated his mother, but, she was in the way of his satiation to kill.
What is that favorite word? Conflicted. He was not accepted to the military, unable to find a place of belonging at the age of 20. When he went into the school, he had already decided he was going to die that day. He perceived authority to be greater than he. He killed himself when police arrived. He was not going to be taken alive by anyone. His death was more important than his life that day.
There has been an increase in the number of mass shootings in the USA than ever before. It is becoming more common place than not. It is not from external forces, but, from our own people. Young men defined by their society to accept violence as part of their identity.
Young adults (18-24 years -old) have historically had the highest offending rates and their rates nearly doubled from 1985 to 1993. Since 1993 offending rates for 18-24 year-olds have declined but remain slightly higher than levels prior to the mid 1980's.
The rates have doubled. And now they are becoming exponential. There is no prediction tool to stop this. The Second Amendment is not about IRRESPONSIBLE social contract. We have to control the guns, because, in the USA there is no controlling the minds of those willing to kill others with them. We need to reclaim the esteem of our men, especially our young men.
