UBISTVA U ŠKOLSKOM KONTEKSTU KRIMINOLOŠKO-VIKTIMOLOŠKI OSVRT
MURDERS IN THE SCHOOL CONTEXT: CRIMINOLOGICAL-VICTIMOLOGICAL OVERVIEW

Summary/Abstract: The school, as an important factor of socialization, represents a safe environment which, in addition to education and upbringing, along with the family, has a decisive role in the development of young people and their preparation for active and creative life in a society. Therefore, it's not surprising that education and school achievements, as well as negative phenomena in the school environment, such as peer-to-peer conflicts, have often been the focus of research and preventive strategies in the field of juvenile delinquency. Today, we are aware that the problem of school violence in peer relations exists, that the actors of violent incidents are both boys and girls, and that it can affect direct participants of violent incidents as well as the entire educational process at the affected school. However, the problem of school violence often becomes socially visible only when it results in fatalities. Murders in the school environment attract great media and general public attention, providing a good foundation for the development of moral panic, which in turn leads to more repressive reactions of school and government officials under the auspices of protecting the safety of the students. In such circumstances, there is no interest in dealing with the deeper roots of the problem, no interest in determining the reasons that led to the ‟good child” becoming a ‟cold-blooded killer”. With the focus on repressive measures, there is a lack of interest in preventing such violent incidents from happening again. Based on a review of available scientific knowledge on fatal school violence, this paper aims to point out the main criminological and victimological characteristics of murders in the school environment, with emphasis on individual, family and broader social factors that contributed to juvenile violence with lethal outcome, whose theoretical background was analyzed on example of the Columbine Massacre.

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