James Bulger’s death, I believe, was a tragedy that could have been prevented had his ten-year-old killers been given the help that they clearly needed sooner. This page is intended to bring awareness to the issues surrounding youth violence that, when recognized, could be the key to identifying and preventing such occurrences. The below list was originally constructed by Janet Renuart, Ph.D., NCSP, and current school psychologist for the Clay County school system in the U.S. All are considered warning signs usually present in children with the potential to become violent. Although any one of these warning signs doesn’t necessarily predict with 100% certainty that a child will become violent, if the child exhibits more than one of these symptoms recurrently, and usually with increasing intensity, it should be taken very seriously as this kind of behavior is, in reference to recent research, a strong indicator that the child is headed for crisis and needs immediate intervention.

1. Social withdrawal often stemming from feelings of depression, rejection, persecution, unworthiness, or a lack of confidence may lead to aggression.
2. Excessive feelings of isolation and of being alone frequently signal a child who is troubled, withdrawn, or has internal issues. These children tend not to be violent. However, in some cases, these children behave aggressively or violently.
3. Excessive feelings of rejection may foretell of possible violent behavior. Children who are troubled are often isolated from their mentally healthy peers. Some aggressive children then seek out other isolated children who, in turn, reinforce their violent tendencies.
4. Children who are victims of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse in the community, school, or at home are at risk for becoming violent.
5. Feelings of being picked on and persecuted may be vented in inappropriate ways, including violence. The youth who is picked on, teased, bullied, singled out for ridicule, and humiliated at home or at school, may initially withdraw, but if not given support, may turn to violence.
6. Low school interest and poor academic performance can be the result of many factors. A low achiever who feels frustrated, unworthy, chastised, and put down may act out aggressively. A child whose school performance makes a drastic change may be headed towards violent behaviors.
7. Expressions of violence in writings or drawings may be a signal of emotional problems. Most children draw or write about violent themes at times. An over-representation of violence, directed at specific individuals, consistently over time, can be cause to question the child’s emotional status.
8. A preoccupation with morbid, violent, and destructive movies, music, books, and/or games may indicate that a child considers violence as a means to solve problems.
9. Uncontrolled anger that is frequent, intense, and over minor irritants may signal the potential for violence.
10. Patterns of impulsive and chronic hitting, intimidating, and bullying behaviors may escalate into more serious behaviors. These children are frequently cruel to animals as well as people.
11. A history of discipline problems may indicate that underlying emotional needs are not being met. These problems may set the stage for the child to violate norms and rules, defy authority, disengage from school, and engage in aggressive behavior. These children frequently blame others when they get into trouble.
12. Intolerance for differences and prejudicial attitudes, when coupled with other factors, may lead to violent assaults against those who are perceived as different.
13. Drug use and alcohol use reduces inhibitions and exposes children to violence either as perpetrators, or victims, or both.
14. Affiliation with gangs that support antisocial values and behaviors may lead to extortion, intimidation, and acts of violence towards other students [or other people in the community].
15. Inappropriate access to, possession of, and use of firearms puts a child at risk for violence.
16. Serious threats of violence are a reliable indication that a youth is likely to commit a dangerous act. Idle threats are a common response to frustration, and need to be separated from detailed, specific threats to commit violence against ones self or others.

If a child is displaying more than one of these characteristics on a regular basis, it is imperative that the adult involved seek professional help for the child immediately. If you are interested in exploring this subject matter further, please CLICK HERE for additional information on youth violence, including a similar list of risk factors and related brochures for parents, caregivers, and educators, provided by the American Psychological Association. For more reading material with regard to youth violence, please see the Resources page on this website. Thank you for your interest.