Levi Cragun

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology

Mentor: Dr. Jason Leiker

Kids Killing Kids; A Look into Mental Illness, Adolescence, and Mass Murder

With violence in the media being ever present, many Americans are asking questions on the source of the violence that seems random. For many youth-involved acts of mass violence, mental illness may have a significant role. Research on mental illness has shown no significant increase in violence; however, research on adolescence, mental illness, and violence have been scarce. With major differences between mass and everyday violence and differences between adult and adolescent brains, we believe that the trends seen in past research of mental illness and violence may differ in these specific cases. Dr. Michael Stone conducted an analysis of mass murders and has been cited widely in media and scholarly journals. However, his paper does not include methodology and lacks the ability to be replicated. Researchers for this study try to answer the following questions: Are rates of mental illness higher in adolescents who commit mass violence compared to other adolescents? Are rates of mental illness higher among adolescents who commit mass murder compared to adults? Researchers will use the accounts of the same four national news publishers and two local news publishers in the six months following the event to find evidence of medical professionals diagnosis of the perpetrator.