- October 1, 1997, Pearl, Mississippi: after killing his mother, sixteen-year-old Luke Woodham opens fire at his high school, killing tress and wounding seven.

- December 1, 1997, West Paducah, Kentucky: fourteen-year-old Michael Carneal kills three students at a high school prayer meeting.

- March 24, 1998, Jonesboro, Arkansas: thirteen-year-old Mitchell Johnson and eleven-year-old Andrew Golden open fire on their schoolmates, killing four of them and a teacher

- April 24, 1998, Edinboro, Pennsylvania: fourteen-year-old Andrew Wurst kills a teacher at a school dance.

- May 21, 1998, Springfield, Oregon: after killing his parents, fifteen-year-old Kip Kinkel walks into the school cafeteria and shoots twenty-four classmates, two fatally" (Garbarino, Prologue).

These horrific events shocked the nation and made Americans ask the question: what leads a child to turn to violence?

Studies point a finger at the parents and the home life of these delinquents. Children oft

Experts also connect violence in the media. Hundreds of studies for aggressive behavior have shown that there is a positive correlation between television violence and aggressive and antisocial behavior in individuals, although it is impossible to predict the precise effects on individuals at any given time and place. The final report of a three-year National Television Violence Study finds television violence continues to pose a serious risk of harm to children. The researchers determined that the manner in which television programs portray violence encourages children to learn aggressive behavior, among other risks. Because most violent acts on television remain unpunished, children assume that they will be able to get away with them too. Another source of the media influencing violence is through popular video games. Certain games such as Mortal Kombat, James Bond, and Grand Theft Auto provide the goals of killing as many people as possible in order to win. This gives children the message that killing and committing crimes are positive goals because they were rewarded for doing them in the games.

Garbarino, James. Lost Boys. Chicago: Free Press, 1999.

Gray, Michael. The Bobo Doll Study. New York: Random, 1998.

Some common words found in the essay are:
University Missouri, Garbarino Prologue, Study Gray, Theft Auto, Violence Study, James Garbarino, Luke Woodham, Michael Carneal, Andrew Golden, Kip Kinkel, television violence, youth violence, violently towards, violently towards doll, television violence study, home life, mental abuse, physical mental, violence prevention, bobo doll study, 24 1998, national television violence, 1 1997, physical mental abuse, conflict resolution,
Approximate Word count = 1016
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)