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Juvenile Crime and the Influence of Media Violence

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Juvenile Crime and the Influence of Media Violence
Juvenile Crime and the Influence of Media Violence
With several arguments for both sides can we truly determine if there is only one main role in juvenile crime? There are many statistics that show there is a higher aggression level formed in people who watched a great deal of violent television or played violent video games as a child. People must begin to consider that there are several contributors to youth crime and violence. Youth crime is often fueled by media violence and can depend on how a person is raised and the adult influence that, while growing up, surrounds them.
Youth crime is far to present in the current generation. There are children harming each other at school and harming their families at home and unfortunately it is far too difficult to pin point only one cause for this violence that we can get under control. In a report for parents and policy makers (Children.. 1999) there are statistics stating the influence of media violence and the barring that it has on juveniles. There are statistics showing that in 1997 alone there were approximately 2.8 million juveniles arrested (Children 1999). Of the 2.8 million, 2,500 were arrested for murder, 121,000 were arrested for other violent crimes, and the remainders of that number were arrested for lesser crimes that are unknown (Children 1999). In 1997 youth arrests accounted for 19% of all arrests, 14% of murder arrests, and 17% of all violent crime arrests (Children 1999). According to statistic reports from the Department of Justice youth arrests increased by 49% between the years of 1988 and 1997 (Children 1999).
In 1999 there was a survey done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that showed with in the 30 days before the survey was done 5.9% of students had carried a hand gun to school, 18% of high school students admitted to currently carrying a knife, razor, firearm, or other weapon on a regular basis, and 9% of them take a weapon to school. At this time there was also a

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