Could Violent films distract real Killers.

[pantsonfire321@aol.com]

Jan. 7, 2008, 9:35AM

Violent films may distract real killers

One report says potential criminals watch the fictional villains instead





NEW ORLEANS — Are movies like Hannibal and the remake of Halloween, which serve up murder and mutilation as routine fare, actually making the nation safer?

A paper presented by two researchers over the weekend to the annual meeting of the American Economic Association here challenges the conventional wisdom, concluding that violent films prevent violent crime by attracting would-be assailants and keeping them cloistered in darkened, alcohol-free environs.

Instead of fueling up at bars and then roaming around looking for trouble, potential criminals pass the prime hours for mayhem eating popcorn and watching celluloid villains slay in their stead.

"You're taking a lot of violent people off the streets and putting them inside movie theaters," said the lead author of the study, Gordon Dahl, an economist at the University of California, San Diego. "In the short run, if you take away violent movies, you're going to increase violent crime."

Dahl and the paper's other author, Stefano DellaVigna, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, attach precise numbers to their argument: Over the last decade, they say, the showing of violent films in the U.S. has decreased assaults by an average of about 1,000 a weekend, or 52,000 a year.

Crime is not merely delayed until after the credits run, they say. On the Monday and Tuesday after packed weekend showings of violent films, no spike in violent crime emerges to compensate for the peaceful hours at the movies. Even a few weeks later, there is no evidence of a compensating resurgence, they say.

"There are hundreds of studies done by numerous research groups around the world that show that media violence exposure increases aggressive behavior," said Craig A. Anderson, a psychologist and director of the Center for the Study of Violence at Iowa State University. "People learn from every experience in life, and that learning occurs at a very basic level of brain function."

The study's authors acknowledge that their research does not refute and in fact lends credence to the findings of laboratory studies. Neither does it address the long-term effects of exposure to violent media, an influence they view as pernicious.

Rather, the research uses a decade of national crime reports, cinema ratings and movie audience data to examine what has happened to rates of violent crime during and immediately after violent films are shown.

[RedGlitter]

Wow there's a whole different end of the spectrum. usually we hear how violent movies/video games/music creates or sets off potential screwballs/killers. I don't know if I can believe this theory but it's interesting.

[suzycreamcheese]

it sounds feasible to me.

[spot]

Why would we prefer to distract real killers rather than prosecute them?

[spot]

rjwould;755267 wrote: I think the idea here as weird as it seems, is to preoccupy them before they ever kill.Ah. The word in the title ought to be "potential" then. "Real" carries a different message entirely.

[lemon_and_mint]

this is something i have often wondered, while they say that video makes people violent, I know i would rather men read playboy and look at photos fo women,. than not have that to look at and perhaps go attacking the real thing, despite the cries that it is degrading to women to have those kinds of magazines available.

[Chezzie]

maybe something in it, much the same as young agressive men/women taking up boxing or similar contact sports to channel their frustration in a controlled manner. I know a few people thats have been helped by that.

[spot]

rjwould;755380 wrote: I may be wrong (I know I should not use that word but i can't help myself. I'm a victim of my own poor language skills) about that.


Really? Surely not. I expect you have potential.

[Chezzie]

spot;755410 wrote: Really? Surely not. I expect you have potential.


everyone has potential, even you Spot:wah::wah::wah:

[Bryn Mawr]

Chezzie;755382 wrote: maybe something in it, much the same as young agressive men/women taking up boxing or similar contact sports to channel their frustration in a controlled manner. I know a few people thats have been helped by that.


There's a massive difference between aggressive men working off their aggression and using up their adrenaline / testosterone in a boxing ring and someone who already has a violent mindset having his imagination stimulated and his adrenaline / testosterone levels ramped up watching pictures of murder and mayhem.

lemon_and_mint wrote: this is something i have often wondered, while they say that video makes people violent, I know i would rather men read playboy and look at photos fo women,. than not have that to look at and perhaps go attacking the real thing, despite the cries that it is degrading to women to have those kinds of magazines available.


Whilst I agree that it's better for a man to take his frustrations out on a magazine than by raping an innocent victim I'm far from convinced that a parallel can be drawn with violent films.

Very often men read Playboy to reach a climax and release the pressure. What would be the equivalent outlet be after watching a violent film?

[Chezzie]

Bryn Mawr;755422 wrote: There's a massive difference between aggressive men working off their aggression and using up their adrenaline / testosterone in a boxing ring and someone who already has a violent mindset having his imagination stimulated and his adrenaline / testosterone levels ramped up watching pictures of murder and mayhem.



Whilst I agree that it's better for a man to take his frustrations out on a magazine than by raping an innocent victim I'm far from convinced that a parallel can be drawn with violent films.

Very often men read Playboy to reach a climax and release the pressure. What would be the equivalent outlet be after watching a violent film?


hmmm i agree on both accounts Bryn...:-6

[lemon_and_mint]

Bryn Mawr;755422 wrote: There's a massive difference between aggressive men working off their aggression and using up their adrenaline / testosterone in a boxing ring and someone who already has a violent mindset having his imagination stimulated and his adrenaline / testosterone levels ramped up watching pictures of murder and mayhem.



Whilst I agree that it's better for a man to take his frustrations out on a magazine than by raping an innocent victim I'm far from convinced that a parallel can be drawn with violent films.

Very often men read Playboy to reach a climax and release the pressure. What would be the equivalent outlet be after watching a violent film?


well, if i watch a horror film with lots of jumps, i can feel the adrenaline, maybe if somone watches a violent film, they get their adrenaline fix that way?And they see people being injured, with blood, just not in real life, maybe they can imagine that it is their enemy being injured?

[Bryn Mawr]

lemon_and_mint;755431 wrote: well, if i watch a horror film with lots of jumps, i can feel the adrenaline, maybe if somone watches a violent film, they get their adrenaline fix that way?And they see people being injured, with blood, just not in real life, maybe they can imagine that it is their enemy being injured?


Maybe - I find it highly unlikely but it may be.

[hoxtonchris]

speaking as a middle aged man once given to violent acts,i find with the experiences of the passing years that violent tendencies wane greatly.as a young man i loved a good scrap,i even worked as a doorman in pubs and clubs.i absolutly loved violent films,none more than bruce lees "enter the dragon"it would fire me up for ages!over the years i have seen many people in distress and pain and suffering and now i could no more inflict that on a human than onmyself.i cant even watch gratouteous violence at all and especialy where women or kids are involved.my point is ,i think the types who revel in these films are,young,insensative,inexperienced in life,shallow but most important probably normal .

[lemon_and_mint]

Bryn Mawr;755433 wrote: Maybe - I find it highly unlikely but it may be.


i imagine it kind of like voodoo dolls - people might hate someone and sticks pins in the doll, but in real life they would never attack that person.

[spot]

lemon_and_mint;755468 wrote: i imagine it kind of like voodoo dolls - people might hate someone and sticks pins in the doll, but in real life they would never attack that person.


Damn I knew I'd forgotten something, that effigy's still in the oven. Talk about overdoing things.