The Case of Seung-Hui Cho - Essay Example

? Case Executive Summary This paper presents the case of Seung-Hui Cho, a at Virginia Tech who went on a killing spree at the campus in 2007 before taking his own life. The paper provides a brief background description of the Seung case in regards to his family and medical history, as well as the incidences that led to his shooting. The paper then advances to two theories: rational choice and social learning in attempt to explain the Seung case. A background of each theory is provided, and each theory is applied to give an explanation to the case. In its conclusion, a personal opinion is provided in the paper to reflect on possible explanation of the case. Description of the Case Seung-Hui Cho studied at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and was a part of state varsity team. On the 16th of April 2007 Seung, a fourth year student undertaking a course in English, went on a shooting spree having killed 32 people and injuring another 25 people (Nizza, 2012). At the time of the incident Seung born in 1984 was 23 years old. This tragedy is referred to as the “Virginia Tech massacre”. Seung followed up the shooting spree by taking his own life after law enforcement agents breached the doors where the incidence took place. Seung was born in South Korea. His family moved to the US when he was 8 years old. He was a US permanent resident (Brunt, 2012). During his years in the middle school, Seung got diagnosed of a depressive disorder and a severe anxiety disorder referred to as selective mutism. Seung received therapy for this diagnosis until his years in junior high school (Nicolletti, 2009). Seung elicited concerns among his family for his behavior as a child. His relatives believed he was mentally ill. Most of his family members interviewed after the “Virginia Tech massacre” noted that he was extremely shy and did not mix up with other kids to play. He gets reported as a child who rarely talked (Nizza, 2012). At Virginia Tech, Seung got to raise significant concern in regards to instances of his abnormal behavior and the violence referenced in his plays and writings. After the massacre, a report provided by a panel convened by Tim Kaine, then Virginia governor, gave an explanation to the shooting (Nicolletti, 2009). The report dwelled on Seung’s troubled past and condemned the mental health professionals and educators who handled Seung for their failure to notice his deteriorating condition and offer him help. The report also questioned the gun laws and gaps in the mental health system of Virginia. Notably, though, the report primarily blamed Seung for his massacre and for not seeking medical help because of his condition. Theories This paper shall aim at discussing Seung’s case using two theories: rational choice theory and social learning theory. Rational Choice Theory In accordance with the rational choice theory, an individual is said to weigh the options of cost and benefits, means and ends before making a rational choice (Samaha, 2005). Rational choice in this sense refers to both what different people may view as either sane or crazy acts. As long as one gets to rationalize his choice of committing a crime, then the crime is explainable. The basis of rational choice is that individuals try to be at their best under any situation. Human behavior gets determined by reinforcements in the form of rewards and punishments (Samaha, 2005). Before undertaking whatever actions they plan to take, all human beings calculate the costs and benefits of their actions. Individuals may undertake crimes since they find it easy, satisfying or fun. In the act of undertaking a crime, an individual may base it on personal factors, such as revenge, entertainment, target victim’s vulnerability or police. A supporting theory of rational choice is the routine activities theory which got advanced by Cohen and Felson. As a subsidiary to the rational choice theory, a routine activities postulates that three factors must be present for crime to occur. The three are: the potential offender, a suitable victim and the lack of someone capable of preventing the crime from occurring (Samaha, 2005). In relation to Seung’s case, the rational choice theory can be used to define his behavior. Seung’s act gets said to have likely grown out of a sense of frustration in his quest to be noticed by his classmates and teachers. Seung was viewed as having had a distorted sense of unfairness within him (Brunt, 2012). According to the note he left in his dormitory, he wrote that he detested ‘rich kids” and he also referenced Christianity claiming he would die like Jesus so as he could inspire weak generations, as well as the defenseless people in society. In this view, Seung can be seen as rationalizing beforehand of the crime he was about to undertake. He believed the society was unjust to him, and he claims he wants to liberate the weak and defenseless by dying like Jesus Christ. In his earlier videos, Seung referenced perpetrators of the Columbine high school massacre, Eric and Dylan as martyrs. This is seen as a way of Seung having tried to rationalize his choice of actions by comparing himself with people he believed were champions of humanity only that they were criminals (Nicolletti, 2009). By use of the rational theory, we get to explain Seung’s shooting rampage from his likely perspective. However, this theory seems to rationalize a bad act making it seem as though it is justified. The theory tries to understand what thought process made Seung to perpetrate his crime and not look at the underlying factors, which were his genetic disorders. Anger and feeling of lack of powerlessness are likely to have caused Seung to perpetrate violence as a way of getting noticed (Nicolletti, 2009). According to rational theory, in situations where youth develop a feeling of powerlessness, crime resorts as the only rational thought process as in the case of Seung. According to applications of rational choice theory in violence and crime, it becomes evident that offenders tend to select vulnerable targets for their activities. The vulnerable targets have no means to protect themselves (Samaha, 2005). So is the case of Seung who decided to go in a killing spree at his university. According to this theory, acts of violence may appear irrational and as a result of aggression, but there seems to be rational planning in some. Offenders tend to calculate the risks and rewards of their engagement in crime. In the case of Seung, he viewed his reward as that of liberating the weak considering his social and economical backgrounds. According to his written notes and videos, he appears to have some element of rationalizing his would-be actions (Nizza, 2012). Social Learning Theory The theory proposed by Albert Bandura (Akers, 2007). According to this theory, individuals get to learn behaviors within a social context. Social learning gets assisted by factors like observational learning and modeling. According to this theory, new behaviors become learnt from models which may take three forms: live, verbal or symbolic. Symbolic modeling gets necessitated via media sources, such as internet, radio, television and literature. Live model assumes that behavior patterns may be learnt by watching an actual person performing the wanted behavior. This theory states that the environment surrounding an individual influences his or her behavior (Akers, 2007). In one of Seung’s writings as a description of his hobbies, he noted that his favorite movie was X-men, his favorite book was Night over Water and his favorite actor was Nicolas Cage. Within the framework of the courses he undertook for his degree Seung learned violence in society and that was one of the reasons why some of his violent writings had direct quotes from books and plays, which inspired him to manifest the protest (Nizza, 2012). Seung got arrested by police campus for stalking several times during his time at the University. During his lifetime, Seung witnessed the Columbine high school massacre, which hit headlines at the time. It is reported that in an assignment handed to him, he wrote a lot on the massacre similar to that of Columbine. Seung acquired guns and rounds of ammunition quite easily, which he then used to commit his crime. Seung easily ascertained his US citizenship and legal age through his permanency card and driver’s license respectively. He purchased the guns via internet through Ebay. His school environment made him develop anger against his fellow students and teachers. His environment at home easily got him access to weapons. Key to social learning theory is the ability of an individual’s behavior to get influenced by the surrounding environment coupled with the individual’s characteristics. That is, an individual’s environment, qualities and behavior all influence each other (Akers, 2007). Seung’s environment, his depressive disorder and unresponsive behavior, all influenced each other on his way to committing the murder rampage. The social learning theory can also be applied to Seung’s case in the light of frustration theory (Akers, 2007). According to frustration theory, humiliation is a result of lack of reward. Humiliating experiences witnessed by an individual cause him to develop a negative response that is internal. An individual like Seung is likely to have experienced many humiliating experiences during his childhood period. This is true according to witness reports given by his former classmates in junior high school and at Virginia Tech. Seung became accustomed to be neglected by his friends as a result of his depressive, behavioral antics and a few girls had also turned down his romantic gestures. This is likely to have caused him to become frustrated and in the meantime he got humiliated during class sessions where fellow students scorned at his reading and lack of non-participation. This eventually caused Seung to await humiliation wherever he proceeded. Seung is likely to have built up aggression within, and he chose to release it through a shooting rampage in which he managed to murder and injure his fellow students (Brunt, 2012). Personal Opinion In the explanation of the murder rampage by Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech, I find the social learning theory as more convincing as compared to the rational choice theory. In applying rational theory to explain the case of Seung, one question arose; was his killing spree rational? This theory faces its greatest flaw in the assumption that perpetrators of crime think before acting. Did Seung conduct a cost benefit analysis before carrying out his actions? It gets difficult to think that Seung thought beforehand of the implications his killing spree would have on humanity before proceeding to do it. Rational choice theory easily gets disputed by deterrence theory (Samaha, 2005). According to deterrence theory, criminals can get swayed from committing crimes if they become aware of punishment and apprehension that awaits their crime. If criminals are rational, they should clearly avoid crimes and punishment since its repercussions is massive. Rational theory should therefore encourage potential offenders to not commit crimes since they pose an enormous risk and minimal reward. Had Seung rationalized the aftermath of his actions, he would have avoided his actions due to the large risk he was getting his own life into. His actions appear to not have come out of a well thought process. Social learning theory provides the Seung case with a more logical explanation to his actions. This theory puts in perspective three vital factors that may have influenced Seung’s actions: behavior, environment and his personal qualities (Akers, 2007). This theory puts into account the contribution of the three factors in explaining Seung’s action. As explained under the respective theory, Seung may have acted out of aggression stemming from his surrounding environment of teachers and schoolmates (Brunt, 2012). His depressive and anxiety disorders may also have contributed to his actions. The theory provides a multi- faceted explanation to the Seung-Hui Cho case as compared to the rational theory. References Brunt, B. V. (2012). Disruption, aggression, and violence in higher education. New York: Routledge. Nicoletti, J. (2009). Violence goes to college: The authoritative guide to prevention and intervention. Illinois: Charles C Thomas Publisher. Nizza, M. (2012). Seung-Hui Cho: Who is this man? The New York Times, 1-1. Akers, R. L. (2007). Social learning theory and the explanation of crime. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. Samaha, J. (2005). Criminal justice. New York: Cengage Learning. Read More