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Crime Rate / Incarceration Rate
Scientists have concluded that exposure to violent TV does indeed lead to more aggressive thoughts, attitudes and actions. Could this help explain the fact that the homicide rate nearly doubled from the mid 1960's to the late 1970's (see graphs). In reaction to this huge crime increase, the public supported policies that have led to a 335% increase in the incarceration rate (pdf). This has brought the crime back down to the early 1960s levels, but the United States now has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world (pdf).
Note: the 1960's was the first time large number of people came of age after spending substantial portions of their childhood in front of the tube.
But, did TV cause the huge crime increase starting in the mid 1960's? There is no way to prove this. But TV proponents often argue that the reduction in crime to early 1960 levels by the year 2000, is proof that TV is not the culprit. They fail to mention that the U.S.A. has had to more than triple the rate of incarceration to accomplish this reduction.
 
Note: scientists are arguing that TV increases aggression. No one is arguing that violent TV is the only cause of violence, just one of many (such as childhood neglect, family income, neighborhood violence, parental education, and psychiatric disorders).
As for the incarceration rate reducing crime, we could reduce the crime rate to zero by putting enough people in prison. Note: The second factor keeping the murder rate from being any worse is medical technology.
 Homicide rate per year per 100,000 inhabitants in the United States from 1910 to 2006 - Wikipedia
"A surge in violent crime that began last year accelerated in the first half of 2006, the FBI reported yesterday, providing the clearest signal yet that the historic drop in the U.S. crime rate has ended and is being reversed." - Washington Post (Dec 2006)
"Homicide rates in South Africa - Before & After TV" - The New Citizen (Fall 1992)
"Four years ago, Bhutan, the fabled Himalayan Shangri-la, became the last nation on earth to introduce television. Suddenly a culture, barely changed in centuries, was bombarded by 46 cable channels. And all too soon came Bhutan's first crime wave - murder, fraud, drug offences." - The Guardian (June 2003)
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Examples from the Research
"Researchers tracked about 700 boys and girls for 17 years. Even accounting for factors such as family income, childhood neglect or psychiatric disorders, the link between watching violent television and behaving aggressively as an adult remains, the study said. " - CNN (March 2002)
"Childhood Exposure To Media Violence Predicts Young Adult Aggressive Behavior, According To A New 15-Year Study" - American Psychological Association (March 2003) More on the same study - CNN (March 2003)
"Four-year-old children who watch more television than average are more likely to become bullies, research suggests." - BBC (April 2005)
"Violent TV May Lead to Antisocial Kids: Study Shows Watching TV Violence as a Preschooler May Lead to Later Antisocial Behavior" - WebMD (Nov 2007)
"Watching violence on television, says Eron, leads to heightened aggressiveness, which in turn leads to more violence-viewing on TV. "Children who behave aggressively are less popular--and, perhaps because their relations with their peers tend to be unsatisfying, less popular children watch more television and therefore view more violence." From TV, they learn new techniques of agression, which makes them even less popular with their peers, which in turn drives them back to TV." - Psychology Today (2005)
"Childhood Viewing of TV Violence Affects Women as Well as Men" - Newswise (March 2003) More on the same study - Personal MD (March 2003)
"Television shows like "The Bionic Woman" and "Charlie's Angels" may have faded into rerun history, but the heroines' aggressive behavior lingers in the psyches of many of the young women who watched such shows avidly 15 or 20 years ago." - The University Record (Feb 1996)
"Summary: Offers a look at a study that reveals that television violence makes children more aggressive and these more aggressive kids turn to watching more television to justify their own behavior. Study according to Leonard Eron; Details of the study; Conclusion that what one learns about life from the television screen seems to be transmitted even to the next generation." - Psychology Today (2006)
"Watching Wrestling Positively Associated with Date Fighting" - ScienceDaily (May 2001)
"Media's New Mood: Sexual Violence" - Center for Media Literacy
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How Violent TV Increases Aggression Among Viewers
"Television characters like Dirty Harry or Bugs Bunny may seem harmless, but it's such characters who appear justified and rewarded in their portrayals of violence on television that could have a long-term negative effect on children, according to a team of University of Michigan psychologists." - American Psychological Association (May 2003)
How TV teaches Aggression - Thinkquest
"Many people believe that children are more aggressive than they used to be. If this is so, social psychologist Albert Bandura has found at least one reason why – social learning – the children copy the behavior modeled by others around them, and that imitation is influenced by reward and punishment." - A Line on Life (May 1995)
"Frequently viewing TV violence – with both children and adults – is directly related to increased aggression. Frequently viewed violence makes aggression seem like a social norm. In other words, it leads viewers to see aggression as an acceptable way – sometimes the only way – to solve conflicts. After viewing violent programs, children play more roughly – fighting more frequently, breaking toys, or snatching toys away from others." - A Line on Life (Nov 1995)
"What is Social Learning Theory?" - About.com
"Trained to Kill: A military expert on the psychology of killing explains how today's media condition kids to pull the trigger." David Grossman (August 1998)
Neuroscientist Marco Iacoboni discusses mirror neurons, autism and the potentially damaging effects of violent movies. - Scientific American (July 2008)
"Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center’s Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) Research Center have shown that watching violent programs can cause parts of your brain that suppress aggressive behaviors to become less active." - Physorg (Dec 2007)
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Violence on TV
"Americans are being subjected to more sex, violence and profane language during the traditional, early evening ”family hour“ of broadcast television viewing, a watchdog group said on Wednesday." - MSNBC (Sept 2007)
"Even if you think your kids aren't, they're still seeing violence on TV, a new study shows." - Parents.com (July 2004)
"Wolves in Sheep's Clothing: A Content Analysis of Children's Television" - Parents Television Council (March 2006)
"by the time they are 11 years old, the average American child has seen on TV some 8,000 murders, and 100,000 lesser acts of violence and brutality" - ABC (1998)
"Three-year Study Documents Nature of Television Violence" - American Academy of Pediatrics (August 1998)
TV Violence And Children - Turn Off Your TV (2004)
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How Violent TV Effects the Brain
"As expected, the results showed that all of the aggressive children had reduced activity in their frontal cortex while completing the task, regardless of their levels of media violence exposure. But researchers found that nonaggressive children who had high levels of media violence exposure also displayed a similar pattern of low activity in the frontal cortex. Children in this group who weren't exposed to high levels of media violence had more frontal cortex activity." - WebMD (June 2005)
More on the same study - ScienceDaily (June 2005)
TV Violence and Brainmapping in Children - Psychiatric Times (Oct 2001)
Introduction to the Frontal Lobe - SparkNotes
The Neuroscience of Porn - The Frontal Cortex (Sept 2006)
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"The only people who dispute the connection between smoking and cancer are people in the tobacco industry. And the only people who dispute the TV and violence connection are people in the entertainment industry."
- TV researcher Dr. Leonard Eron of the University of Michigan
"The real impact is not so much that violent images create violent behavior, but that they create an atmosphere of disrespect. The kid who sees a violent movie and imitates what he sees is very unusual, but we're seeing pushing, shoving, and hitting among children occurring with increasing frequency. It's a subtle shift, from 'Have a nice day' to 'Make my day.'"
- Dr. David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family, on the consequences of media violence.
"Klebold and Harris do not seem to have been inspired by Hitler, as early theories in the press suggested, but by a desire to see their stories told in a Hollywood movie."
-The Washington Times on the motivation for the Columbine killers.
"I think the thing that comes across so often to our young people is the idea that if someone disrespects you, violence is the best solution. By the time you're 21, 22 years old, you've probably seen between 20,000 and 30,000 people blown away on your TV set…. At some point, the tide needs to turn a little bit."
- Tom Osborne, former head coach of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers
"The evidence shows that consistent exposure to stories and scenes of violence and terror can mobilize aggressive tendencies, desensitize some and isolate others, intimidate many and trigger violent action in a few."
-George Gerbner, Violence and Terror in the Mass Media, reprinted in the Vancouver Sun.
Quotes from parentstv.org
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Violent Video Games
"Violent video games can increase aggressive behavior in children and adolescents, both in the short- and long-term, according to an empirical review of the last 20 years of research." - American Psychological Association (August 2005)
"Negative effects of violent video games becoming clearer" - AFA (July 2004)
"Do games prime brain for violence?" - New Scientist (June 2005)
"Violent Video Games Lead To Brain Activity Characteristic Of Aggression" - ScienceDaily (October 2005)
"Most Middle-school Boys And Many Girls Play Violent Video Games" - ScienceDaily (July 2007)
"Can video games make kids more violent? A new study employing state-of-the-art brain-scanning technology says that the answer may be yes." - MSNBC (December 2006)
"Psychologists Produce First Study on Violence Desensitization From Video Games" - ScienceDaily (July 2006)
"Violent Video Games And Hostile Personalities Go Together" - ScienceDaily (April 2007)
"Violent video games and desensitization" - Cognitive Daily (April 2008)
"Video Game Violence Can Make You Cold Blooded in Real-Life" - Softpedia (July 2006)
"Playing violent video games like Doom, Wolfenstein 3D or Mortal Combat can increase a person's aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior..." - ScienceDaily (April 2000)
"In Video Games, Not All Mayhem Is Created Equal" - ScienceDaily (December 2005)
"...their study shows that young men are more likely to see others' attitudes toward them as hostile if they've just played a violent game." - News in Science (April 2006)
"Psychological research confirms that violent video games can increase children's aggression, but that parents moderate the negative effects." - American Psychological Association (June 2004)
"Violent Video Games FAQ" - YMA (2002)
"This is your brain... on violent video games" - Cognitive Daily (April 2006)
"Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions" - American Psychological Association (Oct 2003)
"A study of adolescents finds that violent video games stir up the brain's emotional-response center while reducing activity in regions linked to self-control." - Forbes (Nov 2006)
"Computer games stunt teen brains" - The Observer (August 2001)
"Game mocks real tragedy, gang experts say" - MSNBC (Nov 2004)
Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
Military Recruitment
Army Recruits Video Gamers, Latest Recruiting Tool Winning Over Hearts, Minds Of Teens - CBS News (March 2004)
The U.S. Army and video game producers are increasingly collaborating on war simulation games designed to attract a new generation of potential soldiers. - WireTap Magazine (May 2006)
Violent Video Games Teaching Hate
"Racist Groups Using Computer Gaming to Promote Violence Against Blacks, Latinos and Jews." - Anti-Defamation League (February 2002)
"The new game is called Underash, and its hero is a young Palestinian stone- thrower, Ahmed, fighting Israeli soldiers and settlers." - Middle East Online (February 2002)
"Some popular video games promote racist, negative stereotypes of Asians that would be unacceptable in other forms of media, says a Canadian researcher." - News in Science (July 2006)
"Grand Theft Christianity" - The New York Times (Dec 2006)
"Grand Theft Auto" - Wikipedia - The player gets extra points for killing cops. If the player kills a prostitute after using her services, he gets back any money paid to her, plus any other money found on her person.
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