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do-violent-movies-increase-violent-crime

Posted by: admin 15 years, 11 months ago

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...

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