Pathways to Rampage: The Psychology of School Shooters
Peter Langman, Ph.D.,
Director of Psychology, KidsPeace
 
It is widely known that there is no profile of school shooters. This does not mean, however, that there are no common features or clusters of traits among these youths. Based on his research into actual school shooters, as well as his personal experience evaluating more than a dozen potential school shooters, Dr. Peter Langman will present a typology of these young murderers. Comparing the family backgrounds, personalities, and psychiatric symptoms of these youths, Dr. Langman will delineate three categories of school shooters: the psychotic, the psychopathic, and the traumatized. These categories provide a step forward in understanding the population of school shooters. Simply categorizing the shooters, however, does not explain the attacks. Many youths are psychotic, psychopathic, or traumatized, but do not commit mass murder. Thus, beyond categorizing them, Dr. Langman will discuss the interplay of other factors within each category that influenced these youths to become school shooters.
 
Peter Langman, Ph.D., is director of psychology for the 125-year-old national children’s crisis charity KidsPeace, with a specialty in the psychology and prevention of school shootings.
 
 

With more than 20 years of experience in working with children and adolescents in crisis, Dr. Langman is a sought-after expert guest on news programs in the United States, Canada and overseas and has been called on frequently to comment on school shootings. He writes about
and trains mental health professionals and school personnel on assessing youth at risk of committing school shootings. His forthcoming book, “Inside the Minds of School Shooters,” will
provide psychological insights into the lives, personalities, and psychiatric symptoms of rampage school shooters.
 
Dr. Langman has served on task forces to address suicide risk and self-injurious behavior. He has written and presented on a number of topics related to psychology, multiculturalism, and mental health issues among children and adolescents. Dr. Langman earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Lehigh University, his Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Lesley College, and his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Clark University.
 
Outside of work, Dr. Langman is a poet and playwright.

KidsPeace is a 125-year-old national children’s charity dedicated to helping kids avoid and overcome the kinds of crises that can strike any child – from abuse and emotional traumas to depression, violence, and the many pressures of modern life. Some 3,000 professionals offer hospital, residential, community-based, and foster care to some 5,000 children at 66 centers each day, and millions more children and families are helped each year through free prevention and public education outreach supported over the years by such luminaries as polio vaccine pioneer Dr. Jonas Salk, family guru Dr. Lee Salk, Harvard’s eminent child psychiatrist Dr. Alvin Poussaint, Brown University Child Study Center Founder Dr. Lewis Lipsitt, and KidsPeace National Spokesperson Leeza Gibbons.

In recent years, KidsPeace provided vital help and comfort to millions following the 9/11 terror attacks, the D.C. sniper attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the London and Madrid terror bombings, the shootings at Virginia Tech and Lancaster County, and many other crises.

KidsPeace’s teen problem-solving web resource TeenCentral.net, which gets some 2 million hits a month, has figured prominently in the aftermath of many high-profile school shootings and has prevented a number of mass tragedies, including school shootings, as well as an uncountable number of personal ones.

Founded in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1882, KidsPeace was named the “Outstanding Organization” of its kind by the AAPSC and was called “A prototype of what we need for all children everywhere” by the late great family expert Dr. Lee Salk.