Workshop on Youth Violence

“这是我们的第一项任务--照顾我们的孩子。这是我们的第一份工作。如果我们做得不对，我们就什么都做不好。作为一个社会，我们就是这样被评判的。”-2012年12月16日，奥巴马总统在纽敦举行的祈祷守夜活动上，20岁的亚当·兰扎先是在家中杀害了他的母亲，然后去康涅狄格州纽敦的一所小学开枪，打死了20名儿童和6名学校员工，打伤了另外2名学校员工，然后自杀。兰扎加入了袭击学校、电影院、购物中心和其他公共场所的为数不多但不断增加的暴行枪手名单。尽管这些事件很罕见，但发生时的损失规模是如此具有破坏性，而且显然是随机的，以至于公众和国家立法者正在寻找关于原因和潜在预防措施的问题的答案。当横冲直撞的枪击事件发生时，人们想知道原因。但暴力犯罪行为非常复杂，是由多种因素决定的。政府和国会正在提出旨在表达变革必要性的提案作为回应。奥巴马总统要求副总统拜登协调联邦政府和民主党参议员洛克菲勒的努力。已经为国家科学院关于暴力视频图像对儿童影响的研究引入了立法。弗吉尼亚州众议员弗兰克·沃尔夫(R-Va)过去一直在赞助这一问题的研究工作，他要求国家科学基金会(NSF)找出研究人员知道和不知道接触媒体暴力和青少年暴力之间的联系，以及导致这些毁灭性事件的其他因素。布拉德·布什曼教授--暴力媒体曝光问题专家--和凯瑟琳·纽曼院长--暴力枪击问题专家--呼吁一个由其他九名具有相关专业知识(如通信、法律、社会学、计算机科学、青少年发展、自然语言分析、枪支政策、数据分析)的参与者组成的委员会来解决这一紧迫而重要的问题。我们还将通过确定我们尚未从社会科学研究中学到，但可以从社会科学研究中学到的东西，来确定科学文献中的差距。

"This is our first task - caring for our children. It's our first job. If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right. That's how, as a society, we will be judged."- President Barack Obama at the prayer vigil in Newtown, December 16, 2012On December 14th, 2012 Adam Lanza, age 20, first killed his mother in their home, and then went to an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and began shooting, killing 20 children and 6 school employees, and injuring 2 other school employees before killing himself. Lanza joins a small, but growing list of rampage shooters who have attacked schools, movie theaters, shopping malls, and other public venues. Despite the rarity of these events, the scale of the loss when it happens is so devastating and apparently random, that the public and the nation's legislators are seeking answers to questions about causes and potential prevention measures. When rampage shootings occur, people want to know "the" cause. But violent criminal behavior is very complex and is determined by multiple factors. The Administration and Congress are responding with proposals for designed to speak to the need for change. President Obama has asked Vice President Biden to coordinate federal efforts and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) has introduced legislation for a National Academies study on the impact of violent video imagery on children. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va), who has sponsored past research efforts on this matter, has asked the National Science Foundation (NSF) to find out what researchers know and don't know about the connection between exposure to media violence and youth violence and other factors that contribute to these devastating events. Professor Brad Bushman - an expert on exposure to violent media - and Dean Katherine Newman - an expert in rampage shooting - have called upon a committee of nine other participants with relevant expertise (e.g., communication, law, sociology, computer science, adolescent development, natural language analysis, gun policy, data analysis) to address this urgent and important topic. We will also identify gaps in the scientific literature by identifying what we have yet to learn, but can learn, from social science research.