Kids kill others kids because they choose to do so. Criminal behavior is a decision-making process focused on personal gain. The choice of deviant acts fulfills the fantasy of criminogenic ideation. Thoughts imagine the basis of some self-centered action. The formation of such thinking is part of human nature. Everyone, younger and older, have the potential to be dangerous. From selfish arrogant motives, anti-social tendencies become reality. So, kids kill other kids, just like adults kill other adults. Criminal behavior is a personal seduction to individual deviance. To excuse the behavior by suggesting some external cause-effect influence is to minimize serious criminality. And, at the same time, find ways to avoid punishing the criminal. Asserting theoretical abstracts of some sociological maladjustment, allows the young criminal to escape responsibility. Also, if he or she can hide behind blaming someone or something else, then they avoid accountability. Criminals love excuses. So do the rest of us. It's all about thinking.

Underage murderers come in all sizes and shapes. They emerge from a myriad of backgrounds, socio-economic strata and educational levels. Like many criminals, young ones like to be noticed for their bravado too. And, to ensure their deadly actions get attention, a public place is essential for their arrogant exhibitions. For this reason, schools are good places to put yourself on a stage for all to see. Not only can you make certain of media exposure. You will also spread panic, fear and chaos across the community. Ensuring maximum coverage for "celebrity" status. But, the criminal deception doesn't end there. The plot thickens. On campuses, you can gather a crowd, provoke institutional stability and terrorize them at the same time. The young criminal can act out the fantasy in real-life, death dealing role-play actions. This carries all the way to the final act of defiance. When he or she confronts law enforcement.

However, should the young criminal be apprehended. The excuses are already fabricated. An army of experts will descend to the scene to make sure that happens. Plus, a young killer will help them build his or her defense. Because we've already heard the pretext of rationalizations before. As a society, we listen to them every day. By failure of common sense, logical deduction and factual evidence, we skim the surface rational culpability. On a more simplistic level, the pleas and apologies mitigate the behaviors of movie stars, athletes and politicians. In the aftermath of horrendous incidents, social consciousness will be affected by erroneous explanations. These will be suggested as everything from television, video games and child rearing practices. What we often fail to recognize is the multidimensional complexity of human thinking processes. No single explanation covers every aspect of behavior. Regardless, people make criminal choices.

Whatever the ultimate explanation, none we now have are adequate. Ditto "criminal profiling", "criminal behavioral analysis" and "psychic detective" work as well. Human motivations are deep seated. Criminological proclivities remain mysterious, inscrutable and secret. Not only that, if neuroscience suggests the "mind" is an illusion created by the brain. How can we ever know a young criminal's motivations for certain? And, if we happened to be one of those "experts" who are "mind-hunters". Then how do we find something that doesn't exist? Developing templates, stereotypes and misleading definitions, to predict adolescent criminality devolves into guesswork at best. So, offering excuses creates more ambiguity.

Much like their adult counterparts, youthful murderers use claims like "peer pressure" or group alienation to justify their violent actions. In the meantime, the get in fights, argue and threaten others. Because, generally speaking, they have no regard for the rights of others. Of course, these are just a couple of the preplanned efforts at exoneration. Justifications for criminality comes in many forms. More often than not, we'll discover that these young criminals didn't want to be part of a group. Instead, they wanted to be different. In fact, they may have bullied others and deliberately separated themselves from school interactions. Sociological explanations send mixed messages. Frequently meld fiction to fact and incorporate one myth upon another. In the process, we commit fallacies of inference. To which, the community rushes to embrace hasty generalizations about underage criminal natures.

As with adult criminals, the younger ones find their own particular longing, yearning and covetous natures. To support their quest for personal gain, they will lie, cheat and steal as needed. Plots and schemes are always seeking mental validation. As such, one person does not rely another for his or her ideation toward deviance. We can do that well enough on our own. While some dangerous young criminals operate in consort with groups. Others pursue their illegal activities on an individual basis. Everyone makes decisions about with whom they interact. Whether loner or gang member, youthful criminals look for opportunities. Detect vulnerability in potential targets and act accordingly. Sometimes kids kill as part of their ideation.

Fantasies, dreams and assorted imagings instigate productive or non-productive creativity. Desire, opportunity and ability collude in the consciousness of the individual's selectivity. At one time or another, everyone images the deadly affects of potential aggression. Issues of power, control and dominance mirror much of human thinking. Murderous scenarios cross our thoughts on a frequent basis. Often this comes in the wake of particularly vengeful response to something someone else has. It may be material or emotional in terms of the objective we seek.

The face of our public self doesn't allow for exposure of the hidden deceit we hide inside. In the scheme of western-style escapism, alibis and excuses are plentiful. Along with "victimization" of the criminal, and entitlements for the undeserving. Someone else is always the blame for some premeditated disaster. By labeling or "profiling" the predictability of future human actions, we attempt to define the complexity of human nature in simplistic terms. Rather than focus on premeditated choices young people make. We, instead, ascribe all manner of disadvantage created by the socio-economic surroundings. For instance, in the aftermath of a school schools shooting or other campus related violence. A legion of "experts" crowds the airways to discern the future of preventive predictions. Alleged assertions of behavioral profilers won't help to prophesize future incidents of violence. People, including young people, are unique, diverse and varied in their thoughts and subsequent actions. Human ideation sinks into a mysterious realm of frightening inventiveness. Sometimes that results in murder.

In reality though, a lot of kids behave in seemingly unusual ways. Some appear "psychologically" dysfunctional, maladaptive or defiant. Then again, even among adults, at times, we all act in strange patterns, sometimes unruly and insubordinate. Many youngsters act out unconventional behaviors every day on campuses across the country. But, they never take aggressive actions against others. They may talk tough, draw horrible sketches or dress in non-conforming fashions. But, none the less, a small percentage does take the law and divine retribution into their own hands. They plan, organize and carry out homicidal intentions.

Like adults, juveniles find alluring aspects about the nature of criminality. Including their own sense of its alluring prospects, enticing personal recognition. It is one mechanism by which fantasy touches the edges of reality. As a kind of "seduction of crime", by which young people flirt with the experience of assorted criminal behaviors. This reflects a paradox of human nature in that it possesses constructive and destructive creativity. Among the mix of psychic processes, rationality ventures toward the gratification of pleasure versus painful experiences. Rebelliousness colludes with anti-social possibilities. Boundary lines are crossed in willful disregard for others. And, the attractiveness of criminal event unfolds. For some, as opposed to pro-social transformations to productive endeavors. They instead enjoy in the mental feel of criminal behavior. For the youthful perpetrator, there's an increasing intensity of the sensuality of temptation. Sooner or later, the catharsis finds a target of opportunity. He or she unleashes the energy of his or her inner world onto the chosen objective. Parents don't cause kids to kill others. And, neither do schools spawn criminals nor environmental conditions form murderers.

To choose violence as a means to personal ends resides within thought frameworks. Most of the time, young killers, not unlike their adult counterparts, don't fit any kind of distinctive profile or bio-sketch. That's because criminals are like the rest of us. Different, varied and unique. They live and work in our midst. Look and behave just as the rest of us do. They are us and we are them. There are no templates to categorize the identifiable "criminal type". Similarly, the application is the same with young people as well. Unless you want to use broad generalizations, based on fallacies of inference. That applies to just about everyone else across a spectrum of humanity. You can try all you want to come up with some kind of nebulous "psycho-profile" if you want to. From which, such instrumentations have a potential of crossing into areas of racism, gender bias, ethnocentric labeling and behavioral stereotyping.

Let's make it easer than that. Teenagers who implement dangerous behaviors formulate the schemes within their own thinking processes. Bottom line, kids kill other kids because that what they want to do. And, they know exactly what they're doing. In the end, each of us must realize the truth of human nature. As opposed to the fiction of external forces, like demonic life-forms, driving to heinous acts of deviance. No matter what the circumstances, conditions or socio-economic influences. Simply put, there are no excuses for abusive, destructive or associated anti-social behaviors. In basic terms, it is the young criminal who causes crime. Makes his or her own personal reality in individual selectivity. Unlawful behavior is a rational choice. One is not victimized by the "system", an "institution" or a "parenting process". It's not the causes that create the criminal. The juvenile delinquent creates himself or herself. Young or old, people select their criminality based on their unique temperament, character and private ideation.

And, with regard to campus related violence, perpetrated by young people. No single precise predictive viable "profile" provides sufficient data to fixate upon the who or why of a deadly attack. Nor do any particular precursors point to a specific cause leading to an effect. In studies of campus violence, we find an absence of quantitative indicators suggesting the tell tale signs of a single set of characteristics. Instead, young persons who act in dangerous ways toward others, come from a wide range of backgrounds, geographic settings, and many other variables. Over all, there are no silver bullets, cure-alls or quick fixes. Criminality is about our seduction to inner desires, cravings and wants. Kids kill other kids for individual reasons relative to the gratification of their own self-indulgent fantasies.

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Reference Sources

1. Samenow, S., Inside the Criminal Mind, (New York: Crown Business of Random House, 1984), pages 7-8;
2. Robertz, F.J., Scientific American Mind Magazine, August-September, 2007, Volume 18, Number 4, "Deadly Dreams", pages 54-55;
3. Schmalleger, F., Criminology Today - An Integrative Introduction - Fourth Edition, (Upper Saddle River: NJ, Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2006), pages 118-119;
4. Stafford, B.L., "The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative - Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States", (Washington, D.C.: The United States Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education, May 2002) pages 19-20

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