Are Violent Games Violent for kids?
Why are kids violent is it becaus of video games ???
Kids + Violent Games = Violent Kids????
There have been way too many mass killing of kids by kids. Even when a child killer kills only one victim, it is one too many! When given the chance to ask these killers WHY, they sometimes blame their crimes on violent games, movies , ect... Is violent games the cause of these crimes or are some people just bad??? Should the games be banned or criminalized if sold to minors? There have been many studies on this issue but no real evidence has been found to link the two. A few states tried to pass laws to criminalize the sale of Violent games to minors with no luck. Most of the laws have failed because the gaming industry stands on "Freedom of Speech"!
PROS
Violent juvenile crime in the United States has been declining as violent video game popularity has increased. The arrest rate for juvenile murders has fallen 71.9% between 1995 and 2008. The arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes has declined 49.3%. In this same period, video game sales have more than quadrupled. [4] [5]
Playing violent video games reduces violence in adolescent boys by serving as a substitute for rough and tumble play. [6] Playing violent video games allows adolescent boys to express aggression and establish status in the peer group without causing physical harm.
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. [7]
The small correlations that have been found between video games and violence may be explained by violent youth being drawn to violent video games. Violent games do not cause youth to be violent. Instead, youth that are predisposed to be violent seek out violent entertainment such as video games.
CONS
Violent video games teach youth that violence is an acceptable conflict-solving strategy and an appropriate way to achieve one's goals. [1] A 2009 study found that youth who play violent video games have lower belief in the use of nonviolent strategies and are less forgiving than players of nonviolent video games.
Young children are more likely to confuse fantasy violence with real world violence, and without a framework for ethical decision making, they may mimic the actions they see in violent video games. [2]
Exposure to violent video games is linked to lower empathy in players. In a 2004 study of 150 fourth and fifth graders by Professor Jeanne Funk, violent video games were the only type of media associated with lower empathy. Empathy, the ability to understand and enter into another's feelings, plays an important role in the process of moral evaluation and is believed to inhibit aggressive behavior. [3]
FOOTNOTES
1. Ingrid Moller and Barbara Krahe, "Exposure to Violent Video Games and Aggression in German Adolescents: A Longitudinal Analysis," Aggressive Behavior, Oct. 2008
2. Susan Villani, Cheryl Olson, and Michael Jellinek, "Media Literacy for Clinicians and Parents," Child Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, July 2005
3. Jeanne Funk, Heidi Bechtoldt Baldacci, Tracie Pasold, and Jennifer Baumgardner, "Violence Exposure in Real-life, Video Games, Television, Movies, and the Internet: Is There Desensitization?," Journal of Adolescence, 2004
4. "Crime in the United States, 2008," FBI website, Sep. 2009
- "Essential Facts about the Computer and Video Game Industry," Entertainment Software Association website, May 2009
6. Cheryl Olson, Lawrence Kutner, and Dorothy Warner, "The Role of Violent Video Game Content in Adolescent Development: Boys' Perspectives," Journal of Adolescent Research, Jan. 2008
7. Dorothy Salonius-Pasternak and Holly Gelfond, "The Next Level of Research on Electronic Play: Potential Benefits and Contextual Influences for Children and Adolescents," Human Technology, Apr. 2005
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
TEXAS CONSTITUTION--Sec. 8. FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND PRESS; LIBEL. Every person shall be at liberty to speak, write or publish his opinions on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that privilege; and no law shall ever be passed curtailing the liberty of speech or of the press. In prosecutions for the publication of papers, investigating the conduct of officers, or men in public capacity, or when the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence. And in all indictments for libels, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other cases.