As many of you know, as a consultant and volunteer, I am extensively involved in preventing and solving a significant Homo sapiens behavioral mystery – suicide-related school shootings. Unfortunately, I have been very busy during the last several weeks. Keeping young people, all our children, safe is extremely important to me.

For those that wish to hear my thoughts in this realm, there are two National Public Radio (NPR) programs with interviews with me, to be broadcast on October 6th and October 7th. These will be online for later downloads, as well as on the radio.

On the Media (from NPR)

October 6, 2006

Picturing the Worst

The assault this week in Pennsylvania’s Amish country was the sixth deadly school shooting in as many weeks. Media commentators are pointing to the possibility of a copycat effect, but few are examining the media’s own complicity therein. School violence researcher Loren Coleman tells Bob that a little more restraint on the part of the media wouldn’t hurt.

Weekend America (from NPR)

October 07, 2006

Causes and Effects

Were two school shootings in quick succession, one in Colorado and the other in Pennsylvania, related in some way? They shared several characteristics, but the towns were thousands of miles apart, with entirely different school communities, so it couldn’t be more than a coincidence, right? Not so, says school violence expert Loren Coleman. He’ll talk to us about why these acts of violence happen at certain times in the year, what the media effect is, and how the two recent school shootings are related to one another.

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For more further information on this subject, please refer to my writings on the subject in The Copycat Effect.