Psychopathy and Criminal Justice System | Case Study

Running head: PSYCHOPATHY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
PSYCHOPATHY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

PSYCHOPATHY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM1
Introduction
From a general standpoint, young people are considered to be under the age of 18.
Therefore, any young person under the age of 18 years could be regarded as a minor or juvenile.
Nowadays, due to the fluctuations in the annual record, the proportion of juvenile offenses
committed in Canada cannot be stated. Consequently, it can only be said that the criminality of
young people today has increased dramatically every year in comparison to the previous
generation. This paper mainly focuses on the case study on criminal Eric Harris, who was
responsible for shooting in Columbine High School with some other boys and in which way he
relates to psychopathy.
Discussion
It is important to clarify the meaning of crime while talking about young people.
Depending upon the situation, the expression of crime has been defined by numerous scholars
differently. Though all of them have the same idea. The criteria that one can use to describe a
crime is the following. According to Morse (2008) crime is described as being mistaken, serious
enough or publicly too harmful. Walsh (2013) defined crime as a criminal offense for which
some governmental authorities are subject to specific punishments. In summary, any prohibiting
activity by the government is regarded as a crime. Adolescent conduct of numerous countries has
reached alarming levels of crime. Hence it is high time that crime, violence, and murders all over
the world are stopped. Crime is without a hesitation one of the social and psychological illness
which has a great negative impact in the world (Sherretts et al., 2017).
The mass shooting happened almost twenty years ago at Columbine High School in
Littleton, Colorado. This incident school shooting is considered to be one of the worst mass

PSYCHOPATHY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM2
shootings in American history and is also one of the most deadly incidents of violence in
schools. Although violence at Columbine High School was not the first violent shooting in the
US, the research, motivations, and actions of the offenders and lack of security measures at
Columbine High School are promising results. The outcome of the shooting at Columbine High
School has contributed to a range of issues, from violent video games, gun ownership and sales,
youth behavior, peer relationships, and physical protection measures in school buildings.
Americans were not the only ones to have said that the Columbine High School tragic events
have been regarded as a precedent for the unbelievable brutality before them (Rico, 2015).
Europeans, Australians, and Argentines are of the view that the mass shootings also has a great
impact on their own countries. The seniors at Columbine High School, namely Eric Harris and
Dylan Klebold, who were determined that it was appropriate to have mass shootings to kill their
fellow students. On 20th April 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold arrived at school with
explosives as well as firearms to kill 13 people. Besides, more than 20 people got serious injuries
during the first midday season. After the incident, they also tried to sacrifice their own lives.
Their drastic step has changed numerous lives of the American people as well as the nation. The
actual reason behind this terrible event not disclosed due to the suicidal decisions of Eric Harris
and Dylan Klebold (Rico, 2015).
However, some people are of the view that video games made them violent. As per
Doctor Hare, the psychiatric problem of a psychopath cannot be diagnosed. The manual, namely
Diagnostic and Stabilities Manual of Mental Disorders, which is also known as DSM discusses a
vast range of disorders but psychopathy is not included in it. Psychopathy has proved very useful
to define a distinct and significant antisocial adult subgroup. Specifically, only a few adult
criminals display the emotional, cognitive and behavioral features which describe psychopathy