Virginia Tech Massacre Term Paper

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Virginia Tech Killings

Crime and delinquency in the Virginia tech massacre

A shooting took place on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University which is located in Blacksburg Virginia, on the 6th of April in 2007. In this shooting 32 people got killed. Later on this incident was called the Virginia Tech massacre. Even today this incident is thought of as the deadliest incident that took place in U.S. There were a number of people who were wounded by the man responsible for all this; Seung-Hui Cho. Cho committed suicide at the end of this whole incident. There were two different locations that the incidents took place at in the school and the second shooting occurred two hours after the first one. West Ambler Johnston Hall, which is a co-ed dormitory, is the place where the first incident occurred and here two people were killed by Cho. One was a resident assistant whose name was Ryan Clark whereas; the other one was a student with the name Emily Hilscher. Clark was killed while he was trying to help Hilscher.

It is said that a package was mailed to the NBC News by Cho two hours after the first shooting took place and this package had video clips and writings. Afterwards, armed with ammunitions, guns, hammer, a knife and many chains he went towards the Norris Hall. Three of the main hall entrances were locked by Cho. A note was also placed by Cho in each of these entrances which said that if anyone tried to open the door a bomb will explode. The shooting started instantly after this. Cho fired at his own head approximately 10-12 minutes after he started the second shooting incident. In these few minutes around 200 shots were fired by Cho and 30 people were killed in these few minutes whereas; 17 got seriously wounded. There were 27 students and 5 faculty members who were shot by Cho.

Later on the investigation showed that the intensity of the injuries that were sustained by the victims increased due to the 9-mm hollow point gun which was being used by Cho. A report was released by the Virginia Tech Panel after the incident. In this report Cho's disturbed background was talked about. The report showed that Cho was studying at the school and his major was English. It was in his 8th grade that he was diagnosed with severe mutism and depression. People who suffer from this disorder have problem in mingling with others as well as speaking properly. It was reported that due to this disorder Cho was often bullied as well. His parents were aware of his condition and were working with the school officials as well as the mental counselors to provide Cho with the much needed help. Later on Cho decided not to be treated. He applied to the Virginia Tech College and got admission there. It was according to the federal privacy laws that the officials at the school could not talk about Cho's mental conditions. In accordance to the law, it is only in such a case that the school administration can disclose a student's conditions when special accommodation is asked for by the student. At the time that he was studying at Virginia Tech, Cho was blamed for abnormal behavior which included him stalking 2 females. After the investigation of the case Cho was declared to be mentally ill and was ordered to get treatments. He was also asked by the school to have counseling.

Theoretical Explanations

The actual psychological state that Cho was in at the time that this incident took place is unknown. However, there is a possibility that the difficulty that Cho had in speaking, which was diagnosed as mutism, could have been one of the signs that he was becoming a schizophrenic. It has also been reported that Cho showed signs of delusions and paranoia; these are the symptoms that are linked with schizophrenia. It has also been reported that there was a romantic relationship between Emily Hilscher and Cho. It is being assumed that a disagreement that took place between these two could have been the reason behind Cho starting these shootings. Cho stated in the package that was sent by him to the NBC that he hated the wealthy people and the fact that he was forced to have limited options. On the analysis of Cho's behavior it was noted that his thoughts had become so distorted that he thought of his evil acts as acts of goodness.

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Later on, these destructive tendencies of Cho got turned into obsession.

This whole case is of a delinquent nature which got out of hand. A lot of theories are present which try to explain the reasons behind people becoming delinquent and committing crimes. There are mainly three categories that the delinquent theories fall into. These are:

Choice theory,

Biological theories, and Psychological theories

According to the choice theory of delinquency the manner in which a human behaves is a direct consequence of his/her conscious decision to get involved in a particular situation or ignore it. In this theory the ability of a man to make his own decisions is highlighted. When it comes to the choice theory a lot of people are associated with it. Among these people is Cesare Beccaria who was responsible for the formulation of ideas regarding crime control in the 18th century. Jeremy Bentham is the pioneer of another school of thought regarding the choice theory according to which it is assumed that people are calculators. With the help of this theory it can be determined if an action will lead a person to pain or pleasure. Therefore, applying this theory to Cho's case can tell us that it was his conscious decision to commit the crime but this assumption doesn't explain why it was then that he committed suicide. This is the main weakness of choice theory and the reason why it hasn't been a very famous choice when it comes to conducting analyses of delinquent incidents.

Biological theories are another type of delinquent theories. Factors that are there before a crime is committed are taken into account by these theories. Atavism is a type of biological theory according to which it is theorized that criminals are beings who have the tendency to act a lot like our early ancestors. Charles Goring disapproved this theory. The biological theories have evolved in such manners that now they take into account the internal body factors as well. These factors include heart rate and brain activity, instead of focusing only on the physical appearance. Genes are also looked at under these theories in relation to the environmental conditions in order to explain the temperaments and personalities. In case of Cho it is hard to determine if his actions had a biological origin as, no violent behavior has been mentioned in the family or his parents.

Psychological theories are the last one of these theories. According to this theory a person is examined according to his/her beliefs, behavior and ways of thinking. Various aspects of the human nature and personality are taken into account according to this theory in order to explain why it is that some of the people have antisocial behavior and deviant beliefs. The presences of behaviors that are associated with the psychological impairment also known as psychopathology are recognized in the psychological theories. It can clearly be seen that severe anxiety disorder was strongly related to Cho's actions. He also showed a lot of symptoms of a psychopath. The term psychopath is often used for a person when the condition occurs as a result of biological and psychological factors. There are two kinds of psychopaths. These are primary and secondary psychopaths. A person who has brain abnormality due to which he can't express or manage emotions is known as a primary psychopath whereas; a person whose symptoms are like that of a primary psychopath but they were developed due to a trauma which is known as a secondary psychopath.

Therefore, in the light of these definitions it can be observed that a primary psychopath is biologically related. Hence, people who suffer from this disorder will show aberrant behavior earlier on in their lives such as in case of Cho. The brain could have some damage especially in the frontal lobe which is responsible for controlling the functions of body that are associated with social skills, judgments and self-control. Fear is also controlled by this area of the brain. When coupled with the social factors such as friendships, lack of peer-support as well as rejection, these biologically-related problems play a part in a person becoming a psychopath.

People who suffer from this problem also have the tendency to get into relationships with others and go to two extremes in these relationships. Either they treat the relationship in such a manner that they feel nothing towards it or they get obsessively attached to it. Relationships can be ended by them whenever they….....

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