Youth Violence
Youth violence is an escalating problem in American society today. There are many different factors that can be blamed for this problem. During the last decade of the twentieth century people began searching for answers to this dilemma which is haunting America. Many tragic school shootings have taken place within the last decade that have gained the attention of the public. As of now, no one can give the right answer to the problem or the reason that it happens because there is no right answer yet and nobody can be sure that they know the cause. All we have to go by are the opinions of different people.
The most popular cause of the problem of youth violence is the media. In “The Erosion of Empathy,” Sissela Bok says,
Few imagine that media violence ‘makes’ someone act out their aggressions. Many factors are at issue, though not all are present in any one case: depression, drugs, anxiety, parental neglect or abuse, access to lethal weapons and instructions about how to construct bombs. … glamorized media violence contributes powerfully to blurring the line between fantasy and reality. Immaturity, anger, fierce enjoyment of media violence, and access to deadly weapons make for a Combustible mix.
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Sissela Bok gets a good point across. Bok’s idea is that there is not just one cause, but that the many factors stated in the quote above put together have influence on youth violence, but she does stress the issue of violence in the media. The media is represented in many different ways including video games, movies, television, magazines, and newspapers.
Some interactive games invite players to assume the role of ‘first person shooters’ and reward them for shooting and eviscerating victims in glory and photo-realistic detail. Youngsters are familiar with films portraying the murder of classmates, parents, and teachers as thrilling. (Bok 247)
Much of this problem dealing with youth violence and the media is blamed on television and movies. “There are also the blood-drenched movies any kid can watch on HBO or network TV and teen cable shows like ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and ‘South Park,’ where kids’ decent impulses are derided and snuffed out every week.” (Sleeper 250) Children become engrossed in this type of television shows and look forward to the new episode every week. It is hard not to wonder what is going through thes...
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...nguage. 9th ed. Ed. Gary Goshgarian. New York:
Longman, 2000. 261-263.
Includes six letters to the editor of Newsweek magazine. Each are written by a different author and all speak of the shootings in Littleton, Colorado.
Wallaert 6
Males, Mike. “Stop Blaming Kids and TV.” Exploring Language. 9th ed. Ed. Gary
Goshgarian. New York: Longman, 2000. 257-260.
Throughout history it has been believed that children’s behavior is reflected from their parents. When dealing with youth violence this belief is overlooked and media influence is given much emphasis. Explains that juvenile violence begins at home.
Grossfield, Stan. “Not Gun Shy.” Exploring Language. 9th ed. Ed. Gary Goshgarian.
New York: Longman, 2000. 263-267.
Includes photos and edited transcripts of conversations held by Stan Grossfield and gun owners and dealers at Florida’s Palm Beach County gun show in June of 1999.
Sleeper, Jim. “An Issue Beyond Idealogy.” Exploring Language. 9th ed. Ed. Gary
Goshgarian. New York: Longman, 2000. 249-251.
Speaks of the issues concerning youth and violence. Discusses the views of both conservatives and liberals. Gives causes of youth violence.
Anderson, E. (1998). The social ecology of youth violence. Crime and Justice, 24(Youth Violence), 65-104. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1147583
As the world recovers from recent school shootings, people wondered why these events have occurred. They are focused on drug use, violent society, video games, bullying, and mental issues to try and explain an unexplainable event. The idea that a person would shoot others for little or no reason gave little relief to the survivors.
According to John Davidson's essay Menace to Society, "three-quarters of Americans surveyed [are] convinced that movies, television and music spur young people to violence." While public opinion is strong, the results of research are divided on the effects of media violence on the youth in this country. Davidson wrote that most experts agree that some correlation between media violence and actual violent acts exists, yet the results are contradictory and researchers quibble about how the effects are to be measured (271). Moreover, Davidson is not convinced that the media is the sole problem of violence, or even a primary problem. He points out that other factors, such as "poverty, the easy accessibility of guns, domestic abuse, [and] social instability" may have a greater impact on a child becoming violent than the influence of the media (277). Even though other forces may be stronger, media violence does have some adverse effects on the members of society. If senseless violence on television and in movies had no effect, it would not be such a hotly debated topic. What type of effects and whom they affect are the most argued aspects of the discussion.
Welsh, Wayne N. "United States." Teen Violence: A Global View. Eds. Allan M. Hoffman and Randal W. Summers. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 2001.
When families sit down to watch television, they expect to watch family type of shows. Family type shows meaning rated PG or PG13, sitcoms and movies that do not include weapons, killing, foul language, and non-socially accepted actions. When children killing, they start to believe that it is accepted. Do children think that killing and hurting others and themselves have little meaning to the real life, children can become traumatized. Most killers or violators of the law blame their behavior on the media, and the way that television portrays violators. Longitudinal studies tracking viewing habits and behavior patterns of a single individual found that 8-year-old boys, who viewed the most violent programs growing up, were the most likely to engage in aggressive and delinquent behavior by age 18 and serious criminal behavior by age 30 (Eron, 1). Most types of violence that occur today links to what people see on television, act out in video games or cyberspace games, or hear in music. Media adds to the violence that exists today and in the past few decades. It will continue in the future if it is not recognized as a possible threat to our society. When kids go to a movie, watch television, play video games or even surf the web, they become part of what they see and hear. Soaking violence in their heads long enough becomes a part of the way they think, acts, and live. The line between pretend and reality gets blurred.
Today, there is more violence on TV, in video games and in music than ever before. Many times, media violence is linked with kids and teenagers committing violent acts. This is an attempt by parents and critics to eliminate violence in the media. Although, many think media violence is a cause of violence among children, they should be looking at what else causes violence.
Jones, Gerard. “Violent Media Is Good For Kids,” Current Issues and Enduring Questions. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 195-199. Print
Pirruzia, T (2011).Review of the Roots of Youth Violence: Literature Reviews. (n.d.). Chapter 1: Biosocial Theory. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/youthandthelaw/roots/volume5/chapter01_biosocial_theory.aspx
...ate the violence depicted in the media and they do recognize the difference between media and real life. Society blames the media for youth violence in order to avoid the real issues. No one knows the true answer to why youth commit crimes and suicides (Sternheimer 2003).
Senate Committee on the Judiciary. “Media Violence Causes Youth Violence.” Mass Media. Ed. William Dudley. Farmington Hills, MI: Thompson Gale, 2005. 121-130.
Summary #1 Television violence, and media violence in general, has been a controversial topic for several years. The argument is whether young children are brainwashed into committing violent real-world crimes because of violent and pugnacious behavior exposed in mass media. In his article “No Real Evidence for TV Violence Causing Real Violence”, Jonathan Freedman, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and author of “Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression: Assessing the Scientific Evidence”, discusses how television violence, claimed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), does not cause real-world aggression among adolescents. The FCC determined to restrict violent television programming to late night hours only because their “scientific research” proves of increasing aggression among young viewers (Freedman Par. 2).
A widely accepted cause of the murders committed by children is violence in the media. The parents of three students killed at a high school in Padukah, Kentucky filed a $130 million lawsuit against the entertainment industry because they believe that violence in the media inspired the boy, Michael Carneal, who killed their children ("Media"). To some extent, these parents are correct in their assumption. On average, children watch television 16 to 17 hours per week, beginning as early as age 2 (Strasburger 129). Furthermore, when video games are added, some teenagers may spend as many as 35 to 55 hours per week in front of the television set (Straburger 129). Within these many hours of television viewing, there are many violent scenes. The National Television Viole...
Modern Language Association. “The influence of media violence on youths” psychologicalscience.org, 2003.Web. 5 April, 2011.
The regularity and asperity of media violence has dramatically increased over the years. The Media exists in almost every aspect of people’s lives and exposure to violence in the media is becoming a large concern. People are exposed violent acts in the media everyday between video games, movies, and television. Parents are distressed over the fact tha...
When a child observes daily occurrences of violence across: news broadcast, radio, and public incidences, why society is so violent should not be the question, but how society can decrease youth violence should be explored. Today’s youth has an overwhelming burden to bear. Violence has increased in society and youth often are exposed to situations that end in violent acts. The family dynamic has changed significantly in the last 40 years: with increased divorce, single parent households, and blended families the variability for children to be unsupervised allows for increased exposure to violence as well as expressing violence. Societal acceptance of violent acts has also opens the door for children to face more violent situations. The constant growth of drug and weapon use among today’s youth has become a proponent of increased violence against this generation. Violence in society today is caused by decreased parental supervision, societal acceptance, and drug and weapon access.This essay will Understanding why the trend of violence occurs and how it changes the future of youth