•Total US sales of video game hardware and software increased 204% from 1994 to 2014, reaching $13.1 billion in 2014, while violent crimes decreased 37% and murders by juveniles acting alone fell 76% in that same period.

• 90% of pediatricians and 67% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior among children.

•An estimated four out of five US households with a male child own a video game system and worldwide sales of video games are predicted to reach $102.9 billion in 2017.

•60% of middle school boys and 40% of middle school girls who played at least one Mature-rated (M-rated) game hit or beat up someone, compared with 39% of boys and 14% of girls who did not play M-rated games.

'DO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES CONTRIBUTE TO YOUTH VIOLENCE?'

"Children who see a lot of violence are more likely to view violence as an effective way of settling conflicts. Children exposed to violence are more likely to assume that acts of violence are acceptable behavior. (Yes)

"The opposition to gaming springs largely from the neophobia that has pitted the old against the entertainments of the young for centuries. Most gamers are under 40, and most critics are non-games-playing over-40s. But what of the specific complaints - that games foster addiction and encourage violence? There's no good evidence for either… (No)

http://videogames.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=1608

PRO ARGUMENTS: 'DO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES CONTRIBUTE TO YOUTH VIOLENCE?'

• Playing violent video games causes more aggression, bullying, and fighting. 60% of middle school boys and 40% of middle school girls who played at least one Mature-rated (M-rated) game hit or beat up someone, compared with 39% of boys and 14% of girls who did not play M-rated games. A 2014 peer-reviewed study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that habitual violent video game playing had a causal link with increased, long-term, aggressive behavior.

CON ARGUMENTS: 'DO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES CONTRIBUTE TO YOUTH VIOLENCE?'

• Sales of violent video games have significantly increased while violent juvenile crime rates have significantly decreased. Total US sales of video game hardware and software increased 204% from 1994 to 2014, reaching $13.1 billion in 2014, while violent crimes decreased 37% and murders by juveniles acting alone fell 76% in that same period. The juvenile Violent Crime Index arrest rate in 2012 was 38% below 1980 levels and 63% below 1994, the peak year.

• The US Supreme Court ruled that violent video games do not cause

youth to act aggressively. In Brown v. Entertainment Merchants

Association (2011) the US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that California could

not ban the sale of violent video games to minors. Justice Antonin Scalia

wrote in the majority opinion that studies purporting to show a

connection between violent video games and harmful effects on

children "have been rejected by every court to consider them, and with

good reason: They do not prove that violent video games cause minors

to act aggressively.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B3lHfivQMQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj9R2QqzLkk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zJg1YQTkWs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3a4hudwJFo

STUDY FI

NDS THAT

VIOLE

NT VIDEO

GAMES

MAY BE L

INKED TO

AGGRESSIVE B

EHAVIO

R

•Psy

chologists

have co

nfirmed th

at

playin

g violen

t vide

o gam

es is l

inked

to aggres

sive a

nd callou

s behavi

or.

• A review of almost a decade

of studies found that exposure to

violent video games was a "risk

factor" for increased aggression.

• But the same team of experts said there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the influence of games such as Call Of Duty and Grand Theft Auto led to criminal acts.

• The findings have prompted a call for

more parental control over violent

scenes in video games from the

American Psychological Association (APA).

• US Computer & Video Game Unit Sales: 2007 & 2008 (Units in Millions) • US

Computer & Video Game Dollars Sales Growth, 1996-2008(Dollars in Billions)

• 2008 Video Game Sales by Genre