Video Games And Juvenile Delinquency
Video Games and Juvenile Delinquency
Student
Institution
Video Games and Juvenile Delinquency
Video games are usual tools for the youth, especially teenagers, in the world today. They spend long hours engaging in this activity mainly when on holidays. As a result, there is so much time wasted which would otherwise translate into more productive activities such as reading and helping parents with household chores. However, the few who don’t play video games have a lot of idle time at their disposal. The wasted time could be used in activities to help in their growth and development as well as coping with life’s challenges.
It all depends on the amount of video game exposure and play time (Matt, 2013). Excessive playing of video games especially by young children encourages competition that one must win to move so as to progress. In addition, continued playing of these games makes users aggressive as most of them are usually ‘unforgiving’; for example, if one gets shot and ‘dies’ while playing Call of Duty, the situation cannot be reversed. The aggression can pass on to their real world lives (Douglas, 2011). Moreover, there is the aspect of gambling where those involved place a cash stake as the prize. Similarly, this can lead to anger and aggression by the losers since they lose both their money and the game.
Contrastingly, juvenile delinquency has been an issue that existed years ago for the whole of human history. It is, therefore, unfair, and biased claiming video games; a recent addition to society lead to juvenile crime (Ferguson, 2007). Crime by youth is as a result of various reasons such as lack of parental supervision, poverty, and lack of education. Thus, video game exposure is not the sole cause of violence (Craig, 2013). Sales of video games have more than quadrupled from 1995 to 2008 while the arrest rate for juvenile murders fell by 71.9% and that of all juvenile violent crimes declined 49.3% in this same period. The statistic is
Student
Institution
Video Games and Juvenile Delinquency
Video games are usual tools for the youth, especially teenagers, in the world today. They spend long hours engaging in this activity mainly when on holidays. As a result, there is so much time wasted which would otherwise translate into more productive activities such as reading and helping parents with household chores. However, the few who don’t play video games have a lot of idle time at their disposal. The wasted time could be used in activities to help in their growth and development as well as coping with life’s challenges.
It all depends on the amount of video game exposure and play time (Matt, 2013). Excessive playing of video games especially by young children encourages competition that one must win to move so as to progress. In addition, continued playing of these games makes users aggressive as most of them are usually ‘unforgiving’; for example, if one gets shot and ‘dies’ while playing Call of Duty, the situation cannot be reversed. The aggression can pass on to their real world lives (Douglas, 2011). Moreover, there is the aspect of gambling where those involved place a cash stake as the prize. Similarly, this can lead to anger and aggression by the losers since they lose both their money and the game.
Contrastingly, juvenile delinquency has been an issue that existed years ago for the whole of human history. It is, therefore, unfair, and biased claiming video games; a recent addition to society lead to juvenile crime (Ferguson, 2007). Crime by youth is as a result of various reasons such as lack of parental supervision, poverty, and lack of education. Thus, video game exposure is not the sole cause of violence (Craig, 2013). Sales of video games have more than quadrupled from 1995 to 2008 while the arrest rate for juvenile murders fell by 71.9% and that of all juvenile violent crimes declined 49.3% in this same period. The statistic is
References: Delisi, M., Vaughn, M., Gentile, D., Anderson, C., & Shook, J. (n.d.). Violent Video Games, Delinquency, and Youth Violence: New Evidence. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 132-142. Graham, J. (1988). Amusement machines: Dependency and delinquency. London: H.M.S.O. Markey, P., Markey, C., & French, J. (in press). Violent video games and real world violence: Rhetoric versus data. Psychology of Popular Media Culture. Przybylski, A. (2014). Who believes electronic games cause real-world aggression? Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking. Sherry, J. (2007). Violent video games and aggression: Why can’t we find links? In R. Preiss, B. Gayle, N. Burrell, M. Allen, & J. Bryant, (Eds.) Mass Media Effects Research: Advances Through Meta-analysis (pp 231-248). Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum. Siegel, L. J., & Senna, J. J. (1981). Juvenile delinquency: Theory, practice, and law. St. Paul: West Pub. Co. Violent Video Games, Delinquency, and Youth Violence. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2015, from http://yvj.sagepub.com/content/11/2/132.abstract