Columbine Shootings

Research papers on the Columbine Shootings discuss the reasons the two young men engaged in their destructive behavior and the aftermath of the shootings. If you need to examine the shootings for a sociology research paper, have Paper Masters custom write a project on Columbine for you.

The April 1999 shootings that took place at Columbine High School in Colorado are arguably one of the most heinous acts of violence to be perpetrated on America's youth. The stark reality of 14 students and 1 teacher dead was held second only to the fact that the act had been committed by two students from the high school:

• Eric Harris
• Dylan Klebold

Since the shootings, many have come forward to suggest, what they believe are the reasons, for youth gone a muck in America. While some vehemently argued that violence in the media was responsible for a "desensitized" youth culture that could not comprehend the realization of their actions-several of the victims families have even gone so far as to sue the manufactures of violent video games and pornography websites-others have argued that guns and their accessibility are responsible for the violent youth culture of the new millennial.

Columbine Shootings Theories

Since the time of the shootings, several other theories attempting to explicate why Harris and Klebold so violently destroyed the lives of their classmates, began to surface. Among them, the idea that both Harris and Klebold were socially isolated, bullied and made to feel inferior to other students in the school. Arguably, media violence and the accessibility of guns may have contributed to the shootings. While Harris did not want anyone to blame someone else for his crimes, it seems that after the shootings a number of students came forward to admit that the school atmosphere in which Klebold and Harris were a part had been not only cruel, but violent as well. According to an interview with one of Harris' classmates shortly after the shootings: "I think it was school atmosphere. They did get teased. They did get persecuted a lot".