taz: Erfurt 2000, Emsdetten 2006, and now Winnenden. Is there a pattern in all these school shootings?
Jens Hoffmann: Yes, these rampages have a frighteningly similarity. We analyzed thirty of these incidents in Germany and the USA, and one thing stood out in all of them: over and over again, there were the same warning signs that someone should have recognized.
And they were?
Such an act is always the final product of a lengthy process. It begins with a personal crisis, a sense of hopelessness, or some real injustice. Next comes the idea that such an act could be closure, and then the future perpetrators begin to show interest in other shooters. They talk about them or build shrines to them on their home pages.
But when does all this lead to actually taking up weapons?
It is too early to say anything about the concrete case in Winnenden. But at some point, these young people always begin to make preparations: they make lists and acquire weapons. And often they will warn people just before they act, they'll say goodbye to people they love and give them personal mementos.
Is easy access to weapons typically a factor?
Investigations in Germany and the USA have confirmed that there was easy access to weapons in many cases. But that is only one warning sign among many others, and the reflexive outcry for tougher gun control laws is singularly unhelpful.
First-person shooter games are often cited as triggers. Is there anything to that?
When you see how many young people play these games, it is obvious that there is no direct causality. But what we do see over and over is future perpetrators immersing themselves in a world of violence, watching certain films over and over, or using games to act out their fantasies. They use the same media, but differently.
A male loner who plays shooting games: is that the typical profile of a school shooter?
The perpetrators are not all loners. And it would be a great mistake to construct a profile like this, branding children and adolescents as potential shooters, and ignoring the other dynamics. For example, there are frequently some stabilizing factors that break down just before the incident.
For example?
Rejection by a girl, a school transfer that doesn't come through, a court date the next day. Those are destabilizing factors that bring the lengthy process to an end.
Who could spot all these warning signs in time to prevent a massacre? Parents? Teachers?
So-called school crisis teams have worked, but they need to be properly trained.
Who are in these teams?
Teachers with enough rapport with students to exchange confidences with them. And a climate must be created in which everyone is on the lookout. Are there students with violent fantasies? Who talk about suicide? And do these students have access to weapons? The crisis teams must be networked with the police, child welfare agencies and counseling services.
Isn't there a danger that we'll be informing on harmless teenagers to the police?
It's not about informing on students. We're not talking about teenagers who are liable to criminal penalties. We're talking about keeping our eyes open, and being aware of what is happening or what could happen, so that when there is a crisis and it comes to a head, somebody does something about it. The earlier you spot these dangerous developments, the easier it is to have a happy outcome. And one thing is for certain: someone who shoots down other students is not a happy camper.
Interviewer: Wolf Schmidt
