Mental Illness and Crime Virginia Tech is a prestigious private university on the east coast of America that might forever be associated with the skewed actions of one man. Seung-Hui Cho was a fourth year student at Virginia Tech and was responsible for the deadliest rampage this university has ever seen. Born in South Korea in 1984, it was eight years later that Cho received permanent residency in the United States.

Violence on College Campuses Virginia Tech could probably have avoided the terrible massacre of 2007 had its officials taken more timely and effective action with Seung Hui Cho. He had a very long record of mental illness dating back to middle school, including fantasies of violence and murder, and he had received psychiatric treatment in the past. His behavior at Virginia Tech was so disturbing to students and faculty that a

shooting of Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, writers Michael Grunwald and Jay Newton-Small asked an important question: How could Jared Loughner, the shooter, be considered too dangerous to attend community college but not too dangerous to buy a gun? Grunwald and Newton-Small (2011) point out that gun control continues to be a hot topic in the United States, despite the fact that the Arizona shooting occurred after the horrors of

Figure 1 portrays three of the scenes 20/20 presented March 15, 2010. Figure 1: Heather, Rachel, and Unnamed Girl in 20/20 Program (adapted from Stossel, 2010). Statement of the Problem For any individual, the death of a family member, friend, parent or sibling may often be overwhelming. For adolescents, the death of person close to them may prove much more traumatic as it can disrupt adolescent development. Diana Mahoney (2008), with the

violent video games do not promote violent and aggressive behavior among children, teenagers, or young adults. This hypothesis has been derived from the research that is available that disputes the claims of increased aggressiveness and violent tendencies from those who play violent video games. Previous hypotheses have suggested a link between school shootings and whether the shooter played these types of games (Ferguson, 2008, p. 25). There has been

Abstract This paper analyzes the case of Seung-Hui Cho, who killed dozens at Virginia Tech in 2007. The paper examines Cho’s background, his mental illness, the way in which reports of the investigation and incident were changed to hide the inept responses of administrators and police. The paper also examines changes that were made to protocol following the massacre and discusses lessons that can be learned from this incident and how