Could Berikon have been prevented? Experts organize one
Girl is said to have stabbed a classmate: which warning signals parents have to pay attention to with their children
The homicide in Berikon AG shocked – and unsettled. Can serious acts of violence be prevented by children and adolescents? Two experts classify.
Murders from young people are extremely rare. If you happen, you leave relatives, acquaintances and public at a loss. So also the case in Berikon AG, where a 14-year-old is said to have stabbed a 15-year-old girl. How could it get that far? And could the act have been prevented? Such questions are killed.
Call by Jelena Zumbach-Basu, professor of forensic psychology. At the University of Basel, she researches how children and adolescents can develop aggressive behaviors. Basically, there is almost never a factor that explains why children or adolescents become violent, she says. «Rather, many different factors from different areas play in. These can refer to the family, the child or the young people themselves, but also to socio -economic circumstances or educational factors. »
She emphasizes that crimes like those in Berikon can hardly be anticipated due to their rarity. Specifically, she could not comment. There would be enough information for this. That shouldn’t change either. According to juvenile justice, most information must remain secret – to protect young perpetrators.
Early willingness to use violence as a risk factor
So what knows research To murder cases that have been committed by young people? Studies show that severe acts of violence, accompanied by psychosocial problems, are almost always escalations of a long -standing “violent career”. In criminology one speaks of so-called life-course-person-perpetrators, who often show antisocial behavior such as bullying in childhood and remain violent until adulthood.
Fabian ILG is the managing director of Swiss crime prevention (SKP) and confirms the risk of such escalation spirals. But he adds at the same time: « Even with all sensitization, such severe individuals are difficult to prevent as in the dispute of the two girls. » Conflicts could swing up quickly. « And nobody expects them to end in a homicide, » says Ilg. Often you will only be taught better afterwards.
Take warning signals seriously
According to the Forensic Psychologist Zumbach-Basu, there are children who already show conspicuous behavior with regard to aggression in preschool. At the same time, aggressive behavior is a bit normal for young children. «You first have to learn to express and regulate your feelings differently. It is more worrying when young people have not yet learned to cope with negative feelings, »says Zumbach-Basu. But even young people who never stood out with aggressive behavior could suddenly show aggressive behaviors. « However, so that there are severe violent behavior, there are always several factors that come together in a specific situation. »
In contrast to adults, children and adolescents are the skills for emotion regulation, but also those in order to plan actions in the long term and estimate the consequences, often in the development process. « Children and adolescents commit a crime, impulsiveness can play a major role, » says Zumbach-Basu.
According to Swiss crime prevention, there are risk factors and warning signals for serious violence among young people. This includes:
