Kip Kinkel Research Paper

I. Kip Kinkel, was born in Springfield Oregon on August 30, 1982, to Bill and Faith Kinkel, Kip had a sister Kristin, which was 6 years older than him. When Kip was 6 his parents who were both Spanish teachers wanted to study abroad for a year so the family moved to Spain. Kip had a difficult time because his teacher did not speak English, once the Kinkels moved back to the United States Kip was far behind in school and failed first grade. Kip’s family was very active, but kip was not so he struggled to fit in. In fourth grade Kip found out he had dyslexia, and his parents started studying with him many hours a night to help make him better in school, and even though he understood it was difficult for him to comprehend. Kip felt lost when his
sister moved to go to college in Hawaii, and once Kip got to middle school he felt really lonely, and got picked on in school. Then Kip decided he wanted to protect himself since he was small compared to the other boys in school, he joined karate. Kip got involved with a bad group of kids on his bus, these kids smoked, went to juvenile detention. Kip went with these boys to a mall where they stole cds, which they sliced the sensor off with a razor blade. Kip got caught; this was just one way that kip disappointed his parents. Bill and Faith let Kip use the internet, unsupervised; Kip started to go on inappropriate wed sites, listen to disturbing music, and had a fascination with weapons, which he started to make bombs. Kip ordered bomb making devices from school with the boys from the bus, and was caught. Kip told his parents he wanted the books because he wanted to be a cop. There was no violence in the Kinkel house, yet Kip had guns, and a huge collection of knives. Then kip went to his dad and wanted a riffle, bill gave kip his old hunting rifle for his twelve birthday. Kips parents had been worn down, so they let him go to a ski resort for the weekend with a boy from the bus, they were throwing rocks at cars, kip got a felony for hitting a car. Faith wanted Kip to go to a psychologist, but Bill did not think it was appropriate, even though the Kinkels end up taking kip to a psychologist. Jeffery Hicks was Kips psychologist, kip tells him that he has a hot temper, he kicks holes in walls, he has a fascination with explosives, kip also says that his father is what he is missing out of his life, and he is fearful that his dad would be mad at him, he also says he feels better when he detonates the bombs. Kip also tells the psychologist that eating is a chore, food doesn’t taste good. The psychologist said kip had depressive disorder and was given Prozac. The next gun kip wanted was a glock, which is an interest his dad shared so they got kip the gun but it was to be kept in his room under lock and key, and was only allowed to shoot it if his parents were around to supervise. Kip was taken off the Prozac and stopped seeing the psychologist because they believed kip was better. To please his parents he started playing football, kip was not very good so he starts to feel a deep separation, he is depressed, and even makes fun of himself. The next gun kip wants is a 22 caliber rifle, and bill and faith get their sun the gun, which would lead kip to have a big variety of guns. Kip becomes obsessed with a girl from school and says that she is the only one for him, but the girl just led kip on and then broke him down, and he was suffering from a broken heart. He loved Romeo and Juliet which he was watching in English class, where for the essay on his test he writes about how he wants to kill someone, and about death. There were a lot of people who were talking about school shootings in Oregon, and kip said that if he were to be the one shooting he would take a lot of people with him, and he would shoot himself. Bill wants to take away Kips guns after kip gets expelled from school for having a firearm in a public place and he got a felony for taking a gun in a public building. The police called bill and he was shocked, Kip got the rugar rifle and aimed it at his father head, and fired his father was now dead. Kips friend Tony called he said kip sounded nervous and he was really anxious about when his mother would get home.
Kips mother arrived home at around 6 kip waited for her, because he did not want her to find out what he had done. He shot her 6 times in the head, and face he put a sheet over both of his parents and waited till morning. That morning kip left the house with music from Romeo and Juliet playing loudly, he wanted to kill himself but could not do it. Kip loaded the glock, taped bullets to his chest, a knife to his ankle, and extra ammo in his backpack. He wrote a note about the voices in his head telling him to do kill everyone. He arrives to school with a trench coat, and a baseball hat. His friend Adam sees him in the hall way and kip tells him to get out of the school, kip then sees ben walker at his locker and shoots him in the head. Kip then reaches the cafeteria, he shoots 48 shots and hits 24 students, he pulls the glock from his belt and screams just kill me now, police get kip to the ground when he pulls the knife from his leg and attacks one of the police men. Police go to Kips house where they find loud music, bullets on the floor, kips dad on the bathroom floor and his mother on the garage floor. Kip is charged with 4 first degree murders and 26 attempted murders, which get him 111 years in prison, with no chance of
parole.
II. Kips obsession with guns, and other explosives should have been one of the many red flags the parents had. Another is the bomb book he ordered from school, also hanging out with the bad boys from the bus. Kip got caught stealing cds from the mall with them and slicing off the sensor. Kips parents also let him go on a skiing trip with a boy from the bus in which kip got in trouble for throwing rocks at cars. Kips style of music was very deep and depressing, such as marlin mansion reflecting god, and the song from nine inch nails. The psychologist told the Kinkels that they should not buy someone like their son a gun but they gave in anyways and got Kip the glock. He even told the psychologist that he could not eat, and food did not taste good. Kip’s obsession with Romeo and Juliet, and he wrote the essay about how he knows how Romeo feels to be lonely and out of place, also he writes about death. Later when all the kids were talking about school shootings kip said he would take a lot of people and he would shoot himself. Also kip gets caught with a gun at school, and gets expelled, also kip said he liked to detonate the bombs because it released his stress these are all red flags that kip was not in the best state of mind.
III.
Kips family treated him very different than they did his sister. Even though kip came from a loving home his parents expected a lot from him. They wanted kip to be perfect, the kinkel family was very athletic, but kip was not and they used to push him to try harder. Also Kip was very small, and did not have many friends since he lived in the country. Kip got involved with the wrong crowd, and started doing very bad things. The things that Kips friends introduced him to took kip on the wrong path. He started stealing, and beating up kids on the bus, he also learned how to make explosive devices from them. Kips teachers pushed him in school, when kip screamed out in class about the voices he heard in his head, and when he wrote the troubling essay after watching Romeo and Juliet the teacher brushed it off. Coaches of kips new he wasn’t good, even though they still let him play. Kip was ridiculed on his team and he played positions that were not suited for him. I feel like that kips parents could of enticed kip to do more positive things. When they noticed that kip was not doing well at sports they should of enrolled him in group activities such as boy scouts or maybe something kip had an interest in. Also I feel like his parents treated him unfairly and compared him to his sister to much. They should of congratulated Kip when he did something rewarding, rather than saying you can do better. Also his dad had a very hot temper and he yelled at kip for very small things,
and did not spend a lot of quality time with him. When the sister left for college kips parents became tougher on him because no one was there to tell them they needed to lighten up and not take things so seriously. I think that the tragedy could have been avoided. I believe that kip at the age of 15 should not of had the variety of weapons he had, also I believe that his parents need to supervise him more had such a big collection of bombs and knives how did his parents not see that in his bedroom. Bill was very reluctant about taking Kip to see a psychologist at first. Once Kip went to the psychologist he was given medicine for his depression, I believe that kip should of remained on the medicine rather than being taken off.
IV. Kips parents yelled at kip for his unacceptable behavior, also his parents had a no violence policy in the house which meant all of kips guns had to be under lock in key in the parents bed room. Kips parents also narrowed kips privileges. The school suspended kip for 2 days when he kicked the boy in the head on the bus; also they expelled kip from school when they found the stolen firearm in his locker. I think the decisions the school made were appropriate, but I think the parents could have made different decisions. I think they could of talked to kip more they could of asked him what he was thinking and why he did the things he did. I also think his parents should not have given in to everything he wanted. His dad had a very hot temper and punished Kip for small things rather than worrying about the important things that were going on in his son’s life.
V. I feel the theory that applies most to Kip Kinkels case is nature versus nurture. Nature, referring to heredity, and the nurture, referring to the environment. I think this theory is the greatest explanation to kip kinkels case, because even though kip came from a very loving home that was violence free, with parents who were great people and loved him, he committed a terrible crime. Nurture plays a part in this because Kip hung out with bad kids, kids that influenced kip to do illegal things, which disappointed his parents. Also his parents wanted kip to be just like his sister who was an achiever. They wanted kip to have perfect grades and be athletic and have lots of friends, but kip couldn’t be perfect like his sister he wasn’t a good athlete his dyslexia caused him not to be able to get good grades. Nature refers to heredity, even though kip came from a great loving family, he had something wrong with him, kip says in the interview in the end that he hears voices, and he is very depressed. I feel the best psychological disorders that I would say Kip suffers from are Paranoid schizophrenia, and major depression. The reason I would say kip has paranoid schizophrenia is because he hears voices that communicate with each other and things control his mind. The voices tell him he is a horrible person, and that he needs to kill everyone. Also I would say that he has major depression, he feels like he is not good enough for his family, and he also feels like no one likes him. At school when he really liked the girl she wouldn’t give him a chance, and he felt crushed. He writes in a journal about how he hates everyone and everything. When kip was at the psychologist he told the psychologist he couldn’t eat, food didn’t taste good. Kip kept to himself most of the time, and he had a very strange obsession, with fire arms, and explosives.
VI. My thoughts on this documentary were that sometimes even kids from the best of parents aren’t always the best. Kip had a lot of distress in his life from the time he was little until the day he shot and killed both his parents and the kids at school. Kip moved to Spain when he was very young and never really had the chance to learn English, then when all his friends went to second grade he was held back, and he felt like an outcast. Also Kip was never quite as good as his sister; his sister was always number one even in the family video when kip tried to do a cartwheel, instead of congratulating him his parents just said try harder next time. I also think that the age difference between kip and his parents made it hard for them to understand him, everything he did his dad yelled at him for. I think it is wrong that his parents let him have as many weapons as they did, any parent should see that their child has a huge collection and something bad was bound to happen. Especially after kip got caught stealing the cds, and suspended for kicking the boy in the head, the parents should of saw that he was going down the wrong path. Even when kip went to see the psychologist he told him all the things that were troubling him and he told his parents that a kid like kip should not have any guns. Even after that Bill still got kip guns, they just had to be under lock and key. I feel like Bill and Faith wanted the best for kip but they just didn’t know how else to show it. I also think that they should not have taken kip off his medicine and that he should of seen the psychologist regularly. I also think that the school should have done something when kip wrote the essay for Romeo and Juliet for literature class, and his friends should of told someone that kip was so depressed.