One state representative from Chicago is willing to take a new approach to combat an increase in carjackings.
What We Know:
- Democratic state representative Marcus Evans announced on Tuesday that he is looking to introduce an amendment to bill HB3531 to ban sales of violent video games to minors in the state of Illinois. The representative claims that the video game series ‘Grand Theft Auto’ is harmful to children and contributing to crime in Chicago.
“‘Grand Theft Auto’ and other violent video games are getting in the minds of our young people and perpetuating the normalcy of carjacking,” Evans said. “Carjacking is not normal and carjacking must stop.”
- According to Fortune, Chicago police have responded to 218 carjackings in the last month alone. Despite scientifically unsubstantiated claims that video games result in real-life acts of violence, the amendment seeks to redefine what makes a video game violent to include “motor vehicle theft with a driver or passenger present” and serious physical harm to include “psychological harm.”
- Video games, along with music and comic books have been used to explain real-world violence for generations. While researchers at Dartmouth in 2018 did connect violent games and adolescent aggression, several other studies have widely discredited the correlation.
- When studying the correlation between violent video games and school shootings, professor of psychology and criminal justice at Texas A&M University Chris Ferguson wrote, “As a video game violence researcher and someone who has done scholarship on mass homicides, let me state very emphatically: There is no good evidence that video games or other media contributes, even in a small way, to mass homicides or any other violence among youth.”
If passed, the bill would fine any minor who sells or rents a violent video game up to $1,000 per offense.
