Video Games And Juvenile Delinquency

Running Head: VIDEO GAMES AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 1

Video Games and Juvenile Delinquency

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VIDEO GAMES AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 2

Video Games and Juvenile Delinquency

Video games are games played electronically and can produce three-dimensional images

that can be manipulated on the screen. They are used by youths or any person of any age for

leisure and can be played by a single player or multiple players. There are various categories of

video games but in our case study, we will categorize them in violent and non-violent games.

Examples of violent video games are like James Bond games and play stations while an example

of a non-violent game is FIFA which is a football game. Video games are available in video

stores or even on the internet where kids can easily have access to them. A juvenile delinquent,

on the other hand, refers to a young person or a minor or a juvenile between the ages of ten to

eighteen, who has been found on the wrong side of the law by committing a delinquent act

(Siegel, 2014). We will take a look at how violent-themed video games are related to juvenile

delinquents and how they promote more violence.

To begin with, we shall examine the influence of these violent-themed video games to the

juvenile delinquency. According to studies done by (Ferguson, 2010), every teenager who plays

these violent video games have in their mind the effects they will cause but still choose to

neglect them. It is clear that these games arouse these teenagers psychologically and especially

physically as they, most of the times, turn out to be very aggressive in the ways they treat their

peers. For instance, a teenager who proves to be excellent at these violent-based video games

will tackle a peer the same way he/she tackles the enemy in the game. This leads to multiple

cases of violence and aggression among the youth which leads then to commit certain acts that

would otherwise be referred to as a crime had they have been committed by an adult. This is why

there are plenty of cases of juvenile arrests which make juvenile delinquents out of these

teenagers.

VIDEO GAMES AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 3

In addition to the above, these violent video games may also lead to a personality

disorder known as the psychopathic personality trait. According to (Anderson, 2000), this

disorder is characterized by the lack of interpersonal relationship between a youth and his/her

peers. Once a teenager starts to isolate himself/herself then the parents or even their peers cannot

tell what they have in mind. The current generation is more concerned with being in the know for

the newest version of James Bond game than knowing how their friends are doing, which is sad,

because then they end up lacking emotions and they become slaves to these games. This has

increased juvenile delinquency because the youth’s attachment to these games may cause them

to steal in order to buy the latest version.

Lastly, violent video games send out the wrong kind of information and teachings to the

teenagers who play them. I mean, if a player on the screen is rewarded and worse, promoted to

the next level of the game for killing or beating up someone on the road to their quest, then the

kids will think that it is okay and acceptable to do so because it was done in self-defense (Hall,

2011) . These videos promote and encourage fighting, stabbing and even shooting. The young

people have become experts in these acts such that applying then in real life situations just comes

naturally and automatically like a reflex. These bad values are what have led to the increase of

juvenile acts because they do not see anything wrong with whatever they do.

In conclusion, it, therefore, goes without saying that video games and juvenile

delinquency are highly correlated. This is because violent video games promote aggression,

anger, change in behavior, isolation, fighting, shooting and arrogance among others, and all these

are the first steps to crime cases by these teenagers because they end up having a lot of

unresolved issues (Anderson C. , 2004). It is, therefore, important to limit the time juveniles

spend on television and video games especially the violent ones.

VIDEO GAMES AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 4

References

Anderson, C. &. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the

laboratory and in life. Journal of personality and social psychology, 78(4), 772.

Anderson, C. (2004). An update on the effects of playing violent video games. Journal of

adolescence, 27(1), 113-122.

Ferguson, C. O. (2010). Violent video games, catharsis-seeking, bullying, and delinquency: A

multivariate analysis of effects . crime and Delinquency.

Hall, R. D. (2011, April). juvenile+delinquency+and+video+games. Retrieved from

scholar.google.com:

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=+juvenile+delinquency+and+video+games&btnG=

&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5

Siegel, L. J. (2014). Juvenile delinquency: Theory, practice, and law. Cengage Learning.

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