Less than two weeks after the school attack Thomázia Montoro, in São Paulo, the murder of four children by a 25-year-old man at the Cantinho Bom Pastor day care center, in Blumenau (SC), on wednesday (5), represents a new case of violence at school and is especially similar to the massacre that took place in the municipality of Longing, also in Santa Catarina, in 2021.
On May 4 of that year, an 18-year-old teenager invaded a day care center and killed three babies and two teachers with a machete. In addition to the geographical similarities between the cities in Santa Catarina, the two responsible for the attacks used a melee weapon and chose to commit the crime in a place where the victims would be completely vulnerable. Furthermore, the killers did not have a direct connection with the teaching unit, unlike other massacres in which students or former students invade schools.
One of the superficial reasons for these actions, according to researcher from the Institute of Psychology at USP Cláudia Oshiro, is the ease of accessing bladed weapons. While the suspect for the attack on the Blumenau day care center chose to use a hatchet, the person responsible for the deaths in Saudades used a dagger. However, “these choices draw attention to the level of anger and aggressiveness of the individual, it is something very blatant”, says the expert.
Furthermore, for Oshiro, children are the symbol of what is most vulnerable in society and are almost a guarantee that the aggression will materialize and the act against these people’s lives will be successful.
Relationship with other crimes
“Social contagion is something to look at carefully. When young people come into contact with this type of event, there may be a greater chance of replication”, says Ana Carolina D’Agostini, master in educational psychology.
Within groups on social networks where people connect based on the motivation to commit this type of crime, there is encouragement and sharing of information that makes these crimes possible.
“These individuals feel validated and feed on this hate speech, and they can become heroes in this environment”, says Ana Carolina, who is also a psychologist at Programa Semente, which encourages socio-emotional learning within schools.
“It’s as if the person unconsciously wants to exist in society and does an extremely violent act as a reaction”, argues Cláudia Oshiro. Acts such as Saudades and Blumenau are crimes that act as a response to some lack of society and, consequently, of the State, such as lack of access to health and basic food. According to her, those accused of committing crimes like these are the product of negligence and lack of access to basic rights.
In addition to blaming the individual, it is necessary to carry out a cultural analysis of where these criminals are inserted: “It is a culture that normalizes violence and is not prepared to deal with differences”.
“I wonder what is happening in this society for the individual to reach this level of behavior and aggression?”, asks the researcher from the Institute of Psychology at USP.
*Intern at R7under the supervision of Márcio Pinho