Crime Rate Down Among Kids, Not Up
- Scribbled on April 27th, 2008 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in Action, ESRB/Ratings, Industry News, Interviews, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3
With Grand Theft Auto IV only two days away, Jack Thompson and other mindless pundits will not like this, but according to recent stats, violent crime among children has dropped:
Despite perceptions that video gamers tend to be children, industry statistics indicate typical players are more than 30 years old.
“People think video games are for kids and they’re not anymore,” said Woo.
While concerns about violent games breeding criminals remain strong, US national statistics show that violent crimes by children have been on the decline for years while video game play has rocketed.
“If there is this big causal trend you would expect to see a large leap in violent crime among kids, but there is not,” said Mia Consalvo, an assistant professor specializing in video game research at Ohio University.
The main thing is this: the game is clearly rated as Mature, and it’s parental responsibility to watch not only what their children play, but what movies they go to, what magazines they read, and so forth. Stop blaming external entertainment sources (comic books, movies, etc.) for bad parenting.
(Thanks, AFP-Google.)
April 27th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I’m glad you posted this
It made my day. I like games and I hate it when people mindlessly bash it.