The Criminological Description and Prevention of School Shootings and Cyberbullying in Russia and Abroad

Abstract

The authors analyze modern manifestations of violence in educational establishments, such as school shootings and cyberbullying. Cyberbullying and, to a greater degree, school shootings remain practically unresearched by Russian legal scholars, while foreign authors stress the necessity of their research with the purpose of identifying the determinants of deviant behavior and optimizing its prevention. The authors used the materials of criminal cases to study the criminological characteristics of cyberbullying and school shootings, and identified their close interconnection. They analyzed and specified the conceptual framework, offered a classification of school shootings, and described their main types. It is stated that mass murders in educational establishments are an independent criminal phenomenon not connected with the concept of a terrorist attack, involvement of young people into extremist activities or driving an adolescent to a suicide. A general criminological description of school shootings is presented: the authors show its dynamics in Russia and abroad and single out its key determinants. The criminological features of the personality of the criminal are described using the following indices: gender, age, education, specifics of upbringing, moral and psychological traits, specifics of goals and ambitions, etc. It is stated that in the overwhelming majority of cases attacks in educational establishments were carried out by males of 14–18 years old. Most perpetrators had skills in the use of firearms. The authors examined foreign publications on the topic and conducted a comparative analysis of the spread of school shootings and cyberbullying in Russia, the USA and the EU countries from the standpoint of situational approach. It was determined that the overwhelming number of cases of school shootings registered in the world history happened in the USA, while in the EU the cases were evidently sporadic. In Russia in the last seven years there has been a trend for annual mass murders in educational institutions. Using the analysis of foreign experience and the results of a large-scale interviewing of schoolchildren and teachers in different regions of Russia, the authors suggest measures of preventing school shootings and cyberbullying while taking into account specific national features.