Nipping Student Violence in the Bud
Researchers say they can analyze words to tell which kids are most likely to become violent. Now what?
In 1998, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel murdered his parents at their home, then killed two students at his Oregon high school. In journal entries he wrote prior to the rampage, he expressed hatred for “every person on this earth.” Eric Hainstock, also 15, shot and killed his high school principal in Wisconsin in 2006. In letters from prison, he blamed the principal, his teachers and social services “for never listening to me.” And before 16-year-old Alex Hribal stabbed 20 students and a security guard with kitchen knives at his high school in Pennsylvania two years ago, he wrote a letter blaming his actions on.
