Effects (And Lack Thereof) Of Violence In Videogames

Many people believe that all if not a majority if not all violent crimes committed by children and teenagers are caused by the killer playing violent video games. Those who are most vocal about this opinion often state that prior to many school shootings the culprit trains him or herself using these so called "murder-simulators" to lower his or her heart rate while committing the crime while at the same time desensitizing him or herself to such violent acts.

Because of this there have been many political groups trying to legally ban violent videogames. Though in some places these groups have succeeded the act of the government banning or otherwise censoring any form of media is unconstitutional according to the first amendment which states that freedom of speech press and any other normal form of expression cannot be removed or restricted for any reason. Also it has never been proven that video games exclusively are the cause of any violent crime. In fact, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics, the amount of violent crimes (especially among children and teenagers) has significantly decreased since the 1980's, when video games were first introduced. The only reason that it would seem to have increased is that while the amount of crime has gone down the crimes that do occur have been getting more media coverage. Even if violent media were banned or censored it would be impossible to stop crime completely. Though many people believe that banning violent videogames will reduce crime, banning games is unconstitutional and should not be done.

Though violent videogame are often thought to be responsible for many crimes, they are often ruled out after analysis. Also while there have been many bills placed before congress attempting to restrict or ban the sales of violent games, none have ever been passed due to the fact that restricting the sales of games goes against the first amendment. It is because of all this that violent videogames