Skip to main content

do-violent-movies-increase-violent-crime

Not according to a study discussed at Econbrowser where they compared weekly crime statistics to movie attendance and found that the more violent the movie, the less crime occurred that week:

The authors note that there is a large clinical literature that has arrived at the opposite (and more natural) conclusion that watching violent scenes can induce more violent behavior. But they argue that one factor left out of those clinical studies is the incapacitation effect-- as long as you're in the theater itself, you're not mugging somebody. Even after you leave the theater, a pattern for the evening may have been set that involves less alcohol consumption and less likelihood of getting into trouble. The more violent the content of the movie, the authors reason, the more likely it is to bring violent people off the streets and into movie theaters.
It would be interesting to see if the same holds true for the release of violent video games. And if the releases of the Star Wars movies resulted in a reduction in hacking. After all, if they are not at their computer...

Current rating: 1

Recent Posts

Archive

2024
2022
2021
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008

Categories

Tags

Authors

Feeds

RSS / Atom