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Why Teenagers Turn to Violence
by Dr. Bruce Narramore, Psychologist
SCHOOL MASSACRE" and "DAY OF TERROR" screamed newspaper headlines reporting the carnage in Littleton, Colorado. It was the day two armed teenagers killed twelve fellow students, a teacher, and themselves, and wounded twenty-three more. That four-hour siege at Columbine High School Southwest of Denver, Colorado was the most violent day in the history of United States education. It followed six other murderous school shootings in less than two years. In all, these killings have taken the lives of more than two-dozen other students and teachers. In Jonesboro, Arkansas, the shooters were only eleven and thirteen years of age!
These disasters shock and sadden. We are shocked that such carnage can happen in America, let alone in towns like Paducah, Kentucky, and Springfield, Oregon. We sorrow for the young people whose lives were cruelly ended. We grieve for families who have lost a parent, children, friends and neighbors. And in the middle of the shocking horror of these seemingly senseless tragedies we ask, "How can this happen?" "What went wrong?" and, "What in the world is the matter with a child or teenager who would ruthlessly murder his schoolmates, teachers, parents, and others?" The answers are as different as the teenagers involved, but there are several very common characteristics of children and adults who commit these murderous acts.
1. These are angry adolescents
You simply do not commit murder unless you are bitter, angry and resentful. Children and teenagers who kill have been living with rage for years. Sometimes it was obvious to those who knew them. They have lived counter culture lifestyles. Their dress, hair, music, looks and friends all tell us, "I'm angry and I don't want to be like the rest of you." "I don't want to fit in." "I don't like the establishment." Sometimes they run in cliques, unofficial clubs, or loosely or closely organized, so-called "Nazi" organizations. Their attitudes and actions reveal deep felt bitterness. The two Colorado youths who destroyed so many of their fellow student's lives purportedly belonged to an informal group called the "Trench Coat Mafia." Members wore ankle length, black trench coats, dark sunglasses, and black berets. They spent much of their free time playing war games and boasting of the guns they owned.
 I can't believe he did it.
He
was such a quiet person.
Other angry adolescents hide their resentments so well that most observers are shocked when they turn to violence. For years, they have felt angry inside. They have lived with violent fantasies, books, television programs, and movies, but their outward behavior has shown few signs of their deep rage. People who know these teens nearly always remark, "I can't believe he did it. He was such a quiet person." Some even say, "He always seemed like a nice kid who never caused any trouble." But as the Bible says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it"1 Beneath their quiet exterior an angry emotional battle has long been raging. When they become old enough and strong enough to carry out their vengeful fantasies, they do it.
2. These are alienated adolescents
The rage these teenagers harbor reveals a second nearly universal feeling among children who murder. They feel deeply cut off socially and emotionally. They usually just don't fit in. And if they appear to others to fit in, inwardly, they do not believe they do. They do not feel loved, nor do they have a sense that they belong. Sometimes they feel strange or different compared to others. These painful feelings of alienation and rejection are usually the cause of their intense hatred. When you feel you don't fit with anyone in this world, you become angry.
These alienated and angry feelings are nearly always rooted in social and/or family dynamics. For example, parents who feel socially or economically out of the mainstream, especially if they themselves are angry and resentful, will communicate their own sense of alienation to their growing children. Throughout their developmental years, these potentially antisocial adolescents are developing a world-view that says; "Other people aren't like us." "Don't trust them. They have life too easy." "We're from the wrong side of the tracks." "They think they are too good for us," or "Those jocks (athletes) think they are so great."
They may have a preoccupation
with
death,
or show cruelty to animals.
Other times the alienation is within the family. One child grows up feeling different from his siblings, unwanted, unloved or resentful. Sometimes these children are physically or psychologically a bit different from early childhood, or even shortly after birth. They seem to be on another wavelength than other members of their family. They read different books or magazines. They listen to different music. They enjoy different television programs or movies. They may have a different sense of humor, a preoccupation with death, or show cruelty to animals. At school they either seem a little odd, angry, or on the fringes. Some push the limits by being overtly negative. Others are very quiet and creative, but their artistic or literary creations have a very strong fantasy component or a strong component of darkness, death, alienation or bizarreness.
 Continued on Page Two
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