The Phenomenon of Schoolshooting and Its Interpretation in the Context of Legal and Psychological Knowledge and Associative Meanings of Future Investigators

The reality and severity of the consequences of the phenomenon of schoolshooting*, which has distinctive features that make it possible to recognize it among criminal events, are stated. The imperfection of the definitions of schoolshooting is emphasized, and the need for its interdisciplinary analysis and study by future investigators within the framework of the discipline “Legal Psychology” is stated. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of associative representations of students (future investigators) about schoolshooting and to reveal the semantic content of conceptual connections, based on modern legal and psychological provisions. The survey data were obtained using the association method and are subject to mathematical processing. The main results correlating with the hypotheses are to determine the spectrum and structure of associative ideas about schoolshooting; to establish the consistency of associative ideas with scientific information; to identify the understanding, but at the same time insufficient use of psychological terms by cadets; to characterize schoolshooting based on filling associative-conceptual connections with scientifically based content.