Tonight Katharine Newman, dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins, will join Miles O'Brien to answer your questions at 7PM ET. Newman's research sheds light on rampage school shootings like the one in Newtown, Conn.

You can watch the program online here: pbs.org

Paul Frick will not be able to make tonight's chat, but Miles and Katharine will be here to answer your questions.

Good evening!

Hi Miles. We will get started in a few minutes.

Miles: Can you talk more about Mendota Mental Health Institute? What is the rate of repeat offenders after they go through the program?

Repeat offenses are 50% less than juveniles who go through the regular detention regimen. And of more interest: homicides in the study group: none versus 10. So I suppose you can say it saves lives

Miles: What was the most surprising thing you learned?

That licking a rat baby makes them nicer rat adults.

Any questions out there?

Miles: What particular set of circumstances turn a child into a murderer?

the link between parenting at an early age - and how that effects the way our genes work is fascinating,

some of it is genes, some of it is the way brains develop (our emotional brain is more developed than our rational at that age), some of it is chemistry...and some of it is the circumstances e.g.: bullying

To Miles from Jonathan Langdale: I think there's something to the rat baby licking. My question would be, to what extent parental interaction vs bullying is a more significant factor in the psyche of a young mass killer. Parents?

think of it like a hurricane - each factor comes into play...it is the confluence of all those factors that make a storm - take one out and no hurricane...where it gets ever more complex is figuring our what is cat 5...so all of it goes in to the equation

Miles: In the program you talk about how the “antihero” is a respected character through fear. How many of these rampage killers have wanted to emulate say someone like the Joker?

klebold and harris thought of themselves as "natural born killers"

and they talked at length about whether speilberg or tarantino would direct their movie

Steve Wilhite to Miles: I'd like to know if it's safe to say that all or most young mass killers have stunted psycho-social development.

harris was a psychopath as it turns out...klebold was a depressed suicidal teen...many wonder if columbine would have happened if they had not teamed up

they may fixate on slights - John Keilp at COlumbia has imaged brains of suicidal people - and they are less "distractible"

Andy Williams was bullied and had been humiliated in class - perhaps his brain would not let him let it go

From Katherine Newman: they have faulty interpretive wiring - whether it rises to clinical diagnosis hard to say - so few treated and we learn about them after the fact

from Katherine: most of them have watched films that glorify violence - they rarely talk about specific - the trench coat killer - wearing black - Michael carneal was told to wear a trenchcoat - they have icons that are popular culture based...everyone has an anti hero - whether there is one character or not - we believe they have a scrip

Katherine: In the program you mention that the idea of shooting people after the person has tried many failed attempts to change your social reputation. In your research were they trying for months or years?

form katherine newman: the attempt to gain attention - class clown is normal - and it does not work - they gain a rep for being silly and that does not cut it for teens

they almost theaten it in advance - the purpose is go gain attention - if the purpose were to kill people they would say nothing - but it is about attention - therein lies the secret of prevention

Any more questions?

failure to incorporate into social groups - being on the young thin side of social development - not many football palyer types - the ones who are losing in the tournament of masculine development - the ones who look younger are more likely - the combo of solcial ostracism - physically immature - often sadly smart - kids in early stages of mental disorders - all of these play a role

Katharine: How do you conduct your research, Katharine? Where do you start when looking at rampage killers?

there are thousands if not millions of people who have have these characteristics and only a tiny number will do anything like this

Katherine - sent teams to paducah - shootings - interviewed kids in those schools - the teachers, cops, people who had observed shooters - prisons where they were being held...360 view

Miles: How long did they follow the mother and children in the experiment in the show?

a lot of the boo is what happens to the communities as well

they are still following the families - been going for 30 years - and this is why we had to be so careful to protect their identities

Miles: Is anyone else in the US doing what they are doing at the Mendota Mental Health Institute?

Mendota is unique - only 29 beds in the US. It should be franchised>

Susan Valle: why does the US have more mass killings than say, western europe?

costs $300 a night for a kid to be there - twice as much as regular detention - but the long term cost is so much less (not to mention lives lost)

some of the worst massacres have happened in Europe - even though hard to get guns...but clearly we have more guns - and that has to have something to do with it.

guns help explain - but it is not the only thing

and the type of guns too...the semi automatic weapons clearly make it easier to kill - have to wonder why we allow bushmasters on the market

Katherine: Do you follow the families and communities affected by the shootings?

she did...a ,ot of the book is about he communities and hoe they recover or not - in paducah - a lot for the focus what how they attempted to forgive or were still angry...

people divide over whos e tragedy is this who should get attention and resources and who deserves to feel damaged and who should recover - some kids have PTSD...there is variable tolerance for this and it is sad - in jonesboro more than half the teachers left in a year...lots of attention pored on the kids - and a lot of problems being treated as special - not good

Miles: What was it like interviewing Jeff and Andy Williams?

in arkansas - she met a mother who was wearing jewelry and long finger nails like her dead daughter and rooms preserved like shrines - who could recover from this - no one is - the communities did not recover well at all - right after it is like ww2 - solidarity - and then in 6 months - it all shatters - bickering

My heart breaks for Jeff - as I am a dad...and he seems to be a good man who did not know..Andy - was hard to get a handle on him - recorded, short call - but he seemed a little matter of fact...not sure how to read it.

Miles and Katharine: So what I got from the show is that it is nature and nurture. What role does the media play?

We have time for a couple more questions.

Katherine says there is no question that media fills us with characters that we remember - and that is common - but often they ask if media is responsible - or the attention does not give them what they are looking for - and there is truth to that - but if the media did not cover - kids who heard warnings of a shooting would not come forward - after a shooting a lot of kids report - and that is important - so it is a two edge sword. if someone does not tell you or show that something seemingly impossible could happen you don't know. We adults forget how short the half life is for info for kids.

Katerhine says these kids are far out on the spectrum - why waste on such a tiny population - but if we did more to attend to teen depression we would catch them before this happens...when you look at what we are doing - mental health counseling does not exist as it should for these kids..casting a wide net might help a lot

Miles: Does Liza Long foresee a cure for her son?

Sadly Liza is not very very optimistic...she worries that her son will not be able to go to college and he is a smart kid...but she has been frustrated by a system that seems unclear on how to even diagnose michael...

she is not giving up on him though...and she is working the system as best she can - she is a great mom dealt a tough hand

her son has so much potential...such an engaging, darkly funny interesting kid...i really like him.

so it would be a sham if there was not a way to let him realize his dreams

Thanks everyone!

Thanks so much - feel free to keep the conversation going as Liza suggested...i am at @milesobrien