Cultural and peer influences on homicidal violence: a Finnish perspective.

Two case examples of school shootings in Finland illustrate the interplay between the distal, international influence of the Columbine shooting and the more immediate impact of local peer interactions involving both peer bullying at school and peer encouragement of violence through the Internet. Both cases involved emotionally troubled young men who identified with the Columbine attackers and aspired to attain notoriety through similar acts of violence. There was a sequence of missed opportunities for prevention in these shootings that occurred when the student was chronically bullied, developed serious emotional problems, became fascinated with Columbine-type events, and subsequently began to discuss interests and plans to commit a similar act.