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Re: Saturday Legal Briefs |
Aug 28, 2011, 04:54 |
jdreyer |
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Over the past two decades, every kind of violent crime has seen a drastic decrease :
The cumulative falloff is truly remarkable: Murders slipped 7 percent last year, to 15,100—nearly 45 percent below the 1991 peak. And the declines involve nearly every category of crime, in communities big and small. Property crime last year was down 4.9 percent; robbery, 8.1 percent; and auto theft, 17.2 percent. Even struggling Detroit enjoyed a 2.4 percent drop in violent crime. For many experts, the big surprise was that crime continued to fall even as the national economy was tanking. “This is a real break in past patterns,” says criminologist Richard Rosenfeld.
This decrease corresponds directly with the rise in popularity of video games. And although correlation does not necessarily mean causation, studies are beginning to tie the two together, and with good reason. Think about it:
1. Video games suck up hours of time a day, most especially of young men who are most likely to commit crimes. In the past that time would have been spent on the streets. You're much less likely to commit a crime if you spend most of your time inside playing Halo.
2. Video games provide an outlet for violence. In the past, that would have been real violence, not virtual violence.
3. Video games can provide a cheap high. People can have their dopamine receptors pushed via Call of Duty ($60) instead of killing/robbing/stealing/whoring to get enough money for crack, blow, or smack ($600+). Granted it's not quite the same thing, but that path is a lot easier. |
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| Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed. |
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