bullying

I just posted about a kid in Wisconsin who killed his school principal.  His problem was that he was complaining about being bullied and nobody was listening to him.  I keep hearing about school killings and there always seems to be a link to bullying.  I wonder if this is selective on my part or if there is some real connection.  If there is a real connection, can we do something about this? 

Now this post doesn't really deal with self-protection except in the most general way.  But dealing with bullies is a real problem and I'll talk about how to do it periodically. 

Seems to me that the "system" should be able to prevent it but it isn't working.  I don't know why.  So I'm wondering if there isn't a better way.  If I recall correctly, Columbine was thought to be brought on--at least in part--by bullying.  Seems to me that I started to hear about anti-bully campaigns right after that.

Anybody know?  Any ideas for systemic fixes?