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Games help lower crime?

PostPosted:Tue May 06, 2008 1:41 pm
by Zeus
Last paragraph on pg 2

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?optio ... 4&Itemid=2

Although the rest of the article is good too. Book seems interesting, I'd like to see an unbiased, scientific look at this

PostPosted:Tue May 06, 2008 3:46 pm
by Kupek
Sigh.
And let’s not forget, the authors say, that real-life violent juvenile crime in the U.S. has actually been declining since 1994. In fact, arrests for rape, robbery, murder and assault have fallen 44 percent since then, giving us the lowest juvenile arrest rate since 1983.

Hmmm. 1994. That date seems so familiar. Oh yes, it’s when the PlayStation was released. When I pressed Kutner and Olson about this, they went so far as to concede that indeed, perhaps all those kids that might have been out there committing real-life crimes were now at home committing virtual crimes in Liberty City. Which do you prefer?
He's doing the exact thing he criticizes others for: assuming causation when he sees correlation.

The people the article is about, though, seem on the up-and-up.

PostPosted:Tue May 06, 2008 7:41 pm
by SineSwiper
Yeah, I noticed that as well. It's a problem at work, too.

"This number when down this year when we implemented this."
"So? Can you prove that only that, out of all of the 5000 other variables changed over the course of the year, was the sole impact on that number?"
"Well, not really."

PostPosted:Tue May 06, 2008 8:46 pm
by Zeus
Kupek wrote:The people the article is about, though, seem on the up-and-up.
Yeah, I may have to look into that book