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Video games and juvenile delinquency
In the modern society’s setting, juvenile delinquency is at a rising trend. This is the most lightly penalized crime committed by minors worldwide. A delinquent is an underage person who indulges in criminal doings; these crimes are more often than not based on their behavior. Their behaviors are mostly characterized by carelessness, unnecessary roughness and wild nature. Delinquents are in every state worldwide. Juvenile delinquency has been attributed to lack of parental control, poverty and mostly video games. Violent video game playing has been correlated with aggression and this in turn contributes to violent nature of the youth.
Juvenile delinquency has become a serious worldwide phenomenon in the past few years. The criminal activities attributed to this are on the rise. Based on a research conducted, data from a sample of institutionalized juvenile delinquents, behavioral and attitudinal measures related to video games playing. Violent video games are associated with ant sociality and these effects withstand the robust influences of multiple correlates of juvenile delinquency. In the past few years, the number of violent video games has been increasing consequently this has been a major concern from teachers, parents and other authorities. Violent video games are deemed to be the contributory factor towards cases of youth violence. These games have been blamed for school shootings, juvenile crimes and sexist violence. Lionel Tate a 12 year boy at the time of his actions is a good case study to review. Tate was charged with first degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole on March 9; 2001.tate’s convic...
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... clear from the foregoing observations that violent games and violent scenes from these games majorly influence the behaviors of our today’s youth. To have any chances of success towards eradicating this, we need to publicize these events and let the public see the effects of delinquency. This will help in teaching children and the youths on how to prevent violence and crimes through solving problems in a non-violent democratic manner.
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References
From juvenile delinquency to adult crime: criminal careers, justice policy, and prevention. Rolf Loeber; David P. Farrington, oxford university press, 2012.
Juvenile justice source book: past present and future. Albert R. Roberts. Oxford university press.
Violent video games can lead to aggressive and violent behavior in children and adolescents. “Violent media increase aggression by teaching observers how to aggress, by priming aggressive cognition (including previously learned aggressive scripts and aggressive perceptual schemata), by increasing arousal, or by creating an aggressive state” (Anderson and Bushman 355). As more children are becoming exposed violence in video games in the recent years, violence in schools and other locations where children are prominent has increased. “A national crime victimization survey compiled and maintained by the United States Department of Justice, shows that overall crime rates in United States society have fallen. Simultaneously, school- based studies reveal that many violent behaviors have increased among children and adolescents” (“Causes of School Violence” 1). Exposure to violence in video games can lead to aggressive behavior, desensitization, and an increase in crimes committed by children and teens in our society.
The allegation that videogames cause violent behavior in children has been present as long as videogames themselves. Some researchers said that the Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza, was one intense gamer. “Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech Shooter was seen by his roomates as odd because he never joined them in video games.”(Beresin) This debate will continue to go on in this country as long as there are horrific crimes that occur. There is much written in the research regarding this issue, and many differing views. The research that is presented in the next few paragraphs supports the theory that it is not the graphic video games that produce aggressive behavior, but other factors in a child’s life that create violent actions.
Since the 1970 video games have become more popular than ever before. Generating 11.7 billions of dollars of sells every year or more, the video game industry is considered one of the largest industries in this century. However, video games have been a topic of controversy. With the sales of violent video games going up and the increased violence in schools and teenagers, video games are always to blame. Many people speculate that video games are the cause on why many teenagers have developed aggressive and violent behavior, are desensitize to violence, and the increase violence in schools and public places. In contradiction, video games have little or no fault in teenagers’ violent behavior and shouldn’t always be blamed.
Of course, some studies (for example, Anderson & Dill, 2000) appear to show that violent video games can be related to aggressive behavior. However, the confirmation is not reliable and this issue is a long way from settled. Henry Jenkins of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and many other experts have identified that there is a diminished rate of crimes done by adolescents which matches with the popularity of games that are detected as violent, such as, Death Race, Grand Theft Auto, Doom and Mortal Kombat. He presumes that young players can leave the emotional experiences of the video game behind when it is over. Anyway it is reported that there are instances of young people who carry out brutal law violations who likewise invest extraordinary amou...
Violence has been around for quite a long time. Fights and wars are the interest of today’s society of entertainment. People are more likely to see a movie, where protagonists kill bad guys, over a romantic movie, where a typical girl finds her “knight in shining armor.” This also applies to how teens feel when playing games. Teens have a sweet tooth for violent games, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops, Kill zone, Infamous, and other violent rated games. These games are like vocabulary words in a teens’ language. A recent discussion has been brought up from the Industry of Coombes Class (ICC). A worker has noticed a few news reports stating that games have influenced shooting sprees or murders in the community. Not only that but also parents are being persuaded to ban their children from playing games. The question is “Are games really influencing teens’ bad behaviors?” Well, violent games have been said to be the cause of teens’ violent acts, but this is not true. Many times this has been proven wrong by scientists and psychologists.
Unsworth, G., Devilly, G. J., & Ward, T. (2007). The effect of playing violent video games on adolescents: Should parents be quaking in their boots?. Psychology, Crime & Law, 13(4), 383-394. doi:10.1080/10683160601060655
In our society we have many issues that plague our youth. Problems such as substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, and verbal bullying are just a few of the issues. There is one issue that has been on the rise for many years, and is relatively new to the world; and that is violence due to exposure to violent video games. Research done by a panel of scientists led by Professor Rowell Huesmann found “Unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts” (qtd. in Anderson et al. 4). This research is very profound, but it does not state that a child will go to a school and shoot children because he played the game Call of Duty. While a child might not show major aggressive behavior because of violent video games, he will show minor increases in aggressive behavior because of the games he plays. These statistics are the same for adolescents as they are for children. Whether they realize it or not, everyone who plays a violent video game is effected in one way or another. Even though there is a rating system for games, that system is lacking in what they let younger children watch and do in these games. The question that must be asked is, “Why are these children being exposed to such violent content?”
After a long school day, most students find themselves mentally exhausted by an intensive curriculum. Rightfully so, most developing teenagers make an attempt to find an activity to release some stress, and veer away from the rigorous, mental activity of the school day. Hence, most of these children turn to video games. With the recent increase of technological sources, video games has acted as yet another option for after school activity. With admiration for brutal, destructive, and harsh forms of entertainment, it can be seen how violent games can affect the behaviors of young men and women who are constantly exposed.
Those that oppose further restrictions of violent video games would argue that these types of games decrease violence in youth, while in reality they develop violent tendencies within young adults. The opposition believes that violent video games allow youth to let out their anger in a way that does not bring harm to others. However, recent Harvard studies show that 60% of middle school boys who have played at least one Mature-rated game, have physically hurt someone ("Video Games ProCon.org."). Video games influence the way youth act. By playing Mature-rated games, these middle school boys have learned that violence isn't unfavorable but, in fact, rewarded, therefore they act in the same way as the video game. The video game, rewards the boys for being able to carry out a violent task and therefo...
One article points out that video games have a big impact on children’s lives and that many of the games played are violent. Researchers have found that “nearly all children spend time playing video games” and studies have found that “8th graders spent an average of 17 hours per week playing video games” (Tamborini 336). Moreover, 68% of the most popular video games contain violence (Tamborini 336). So it is clear that many children have access to violent video games and they have a big impact on their lives simply because of the amount of time spent playing them.
Although violent video games are thought to encourage real world violence, they actually help to prevent it. I am focusing on violent video games and how they affect juveniles because I feel that this issue needs to be looked at in the criminal justice community. It is an unnecessary distraction to blame the actions of a disturbed youth on a form of entertainment that has been used by millions of people without incident. A review article published in The Psychiatric Quarterly found that many studies which claim to indicate an increase in aggression due to video games are, in fact, biased! Once the bias is taken into account, the studies no longer find any correlation between youths who play violent video games and youths who demonstate aggression and violent behavior. (Ferguson, 2014)
At this day in age we bask in the luxury of having easy access to advanced technology at our disposal. From the World Wide Web, to cell phones, music, movies and video games the human race has thought of any and everything to keep us entertained. Over the years studies have shown reasonable concerns regarding the long-term effects of video games. These games can desensitize gamers to real life violence, which is usually seen in the younger crowd. The studies especially hit on the games containing player-on-player violence. Though these games are extremely entertaining and can get kids to settle down for a while, if not properly supervised, they can produce adverse effects. Other studies have shown that video games can be used as way to yield positive outcomes such as, good problem solving skills, cooperation in a group and the ability to flow. Although there has been psychological research on children learning through the actions of others some believe that children are automatically able to distinguish between what is just a game and what is reality. The longer they are allowed on their game system the more they become convinced that their games are real. Some researchers believe violent video games can channel the aggression of the child but the parents are to blame for what happens to the child after playing an excessive amount over a period of time. Children can become preoccupied with these violent video games which have been proven to be the cause of poor social skills, uncontrollable aggression and a false reality.
In the 2014 editorial, “Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?”, Steven Markoff supports the claim violent video games cause violent behavior. He speaks to a curious audience of all ages. The article uses logos throughout creating a set opinion on the topic.
Violent video games are special games, which negatively influences to the attitude and behavior. These video games are popular between children and teenagers. Since 1980-s years violent games are in political discussion. Because when teenagers usually play violent video games, they are becoming aggressive and then they face with psychological problems. For this, some people claim that violent games are harmful for society and they affect to behavior and health.
Juvenile delinquency is not by any means a new phenomenon, although the way that juvenile offenders are treated when apprehended is constantly changing. Changes in family structure and urbanization have influenced the way that children act, as well as the way that they are viewed by members of society. Today, juvenile offenders are usually not treated like criminals, but rather given a lighter penance than adults and a ch...