Violent Video games
'affect youth violence?'
Does violent video games contribute to youth violence?
CONS:
- The juvenile violent crime rate was 71.9% in 1995 an the arrest rate of juvenile violent crimes has gone down to 49.3%.
- In a 2007 study 45% of kids said: "it helps me get my anger out", and 62% played because: "it helps them relax."
- Violent video games provide healthy and safe opportunities for children to virtually explore rules and consequences of violent actions.
- Violent games also allow youth to experiment with issues such as war, violence and death without real world consequences.
- Playing m-rated games make kids be more afraid of being victims of crimes.
- There is also the problem that m-rated games can teach them how to use weapons and how to use objects in a violent way.
- Since the brain is still developing it can cause you to not know what is fantasy and what is real.
CON: According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30-year low. Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population. It is true that young offenders who have committed school shootings in America have also been game players. But young people in general are more likely to be gamers - 90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play. The overwhelming majority of kids who play do NOT commit antisocial acts. According to a 2001 U.S. Surgeon General's report , the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure. The moral panic over violent video games is doubly harmful. It has led adult authorities to be more suspicious and hostile to many kids who already feel cut off from the system. It also misdirects energy away from eliminating the actual causes of youth violence and allows problems to continue to fester." Jan. 13, 2010 - By Henry Jenkins, PhD .
PRO: "I think it is safe to say that a wealthy kid from the suburbs can play [the video game] Grand Theft Auto or similar games without turning to a life of crime, but a poor kid who lives in a neighborhood where people really do steal cars or deal drugs or shoot cops might not be so fortunate. And I should add that this isn’t a hypothetical question: Grand Theft Auto is one of the best-selling video games in America. There is almost certainly a child somewhere in America who is going to be hurt by this game. Maybe his dad is in jail, or his big brother is already down on the corner dealing drugs. Maybe he has just fallen in with the wrong crowd. But this game could be all it takes to nudge him on to the wrong side of the fence."June 14, 2006 - Joseph Pitts, MEd