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| The Real causes of teen violence | ||
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| creativenate88 |
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Registered Member #545
Joined: Sun Jan 21 2007, 08:11PMPosts: 263 |
SO this is the paper that has taken me from you guys..thanks to illness, procrastination, and plain old laziness it didnt turn out the way i had hoped, soo here it is..... The Real Causes of Teen Violence Many have claimed that there is a rise in teen violence and have attributed that violence to playing violent video games and watching graphically violent movies. However, statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation have shown that over the last decade, teen violence has steadily decreased (Ferris). The examples of teen violence have been portrayed in the media constantly and usually there is an attempt to link it to the violence in video games and movies. These attempts are made by the news papers, magazines, TV, and radio, politicians and public interest groups. Teen violence is not caused by the violent images seen in movies and games but it is the sensational answer of choice. There are many social dilemmas that pose a far higher risk of violence, including family dysfunction, gang membership, bullying and mental illness. “If it bleeds it leads,†is a dictum commonly followed in the media world. This refers to the belief that blood and guts makes for a good news story. According to the 1997 Annual Report of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, the news media play a major role in shaping the public and political perception, making it appear that there is an outbreak of teen violence (Shepherd). For example, when a 12 year old boy from Stockton, California accidentally shot his little brother, the AP news story immediately claimed the boy was “acting out an anti terrorist video game.†The media made it clear that they were blaming the violence on the video game that the teen had been playing. On April 20, 1999, high school seniors, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris entered Columbine High School armed to kill. The boys carried multiple fire arms, knives, and a surplus of explosives. The teens aimed to kill as many of their fellow students as possible. The teens killed 13 and injured over 20 others, before killing themselves. News coverage captured traumatized and weeping teens and their horrified parents, concerned counselors, and a frenzy of police. Yellow crime scene tape and wailing emergency lights were plastered on every evening newscast. After setting the stage with these images, reporters told Americans that the only thing that made sense of the teens' motives were the websites they visited, violent games they played, and violent movies they watched. The massacre at Columbine High School was considered to be the deadliest school shooting in United States history. Both Harris and Klebold were fans of video games such as Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. Harris often created levels for Doom that were widely distributed and can still be found on the Internet as “the Harris levelsâ€. Rumors that the layout of these levels resembled that of Columbine High School circulated, though they have been debunked. Some analysts argued that part of the killers' problem may have been desensitization due to their constant exposure to violent imagery in video games, as well as music and movies, theorizing that their obsession with these forms of media may have led them to depersonalization. American media compared the massacre to a fantasy sequence from the 1995 film, The Basketball Diaries, in which the main character wears a black trench coat and shoots six classmates in his school's hallways, making it obvious that the movie was partially to blame. The massacre provoked debate and much discussion on the nature of high school cliques and bullying, as well as the role of violent movies and video games in American society. The shooting resulted in an increased emphasis on school security, goth culture, heavy metal music, social outcasts, the use of pharmaceutical anti-depressants by teenagers, violent films and violent video games. Media images heighten the public perception of the seriousness of youth crime, so the greater public sensitivity reported by Sarah Reyneveld and Katie Porch of Eat the State, “such tactics boost ratings and circulation but they are not neutral, politically or culturally.†and fear drive the choices made by politicians (Shepherd 4). Politicians, in at least seven states have proposed bills that would restrict the sale of some violent video games to minors. This proposed legislation began as a result of the Columbine High School massacre. In Washington State, lawmakers have proposed House Bill 2178, which will hold game makers liable if some one under 17 commits a crime which is ruled to be a result of playing a violent video game. Hilary Clinton, “this is a silent epidemic of media desensitization that teaches kids its okay to diss people because they are a woman, they’re a different colour or they’re from a different place.†(Thorsen) A group known as Mother Against Videogame Addiction and Violence has been on the bandwagon making the assumption that video games cause teens to act out with violence. This group of mothers warns of addiction and violence that video games may cause. They display a warning level of game danger, which is currently set at “severeâ€, the highest possible level. This severe level warning is due to the recent release of The Burning Crusade, the sequel to the popular The World of Warcraft. The National Institute on Media and the Family, a non profit public interest group warns of “killographic†images in a number of video games. A killographic image is the ‘graphic depiction of brutal violence.’ The group warns that these images are within the reach of young children and should be removed. The public interest group began an annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card that contained a list of games that parents should avoid for their children. During the eighth annual report card, the number one game for parents to avoid was Rockstar Games’, Manthunt. One thing that cannot be denied is that America is a country torn by crime and violence. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s “Uniform Crime Reportsâ€, for every 100,000 inhabitants in the United States there were 469.2 violent crimes in 2005. Of those 469.2 violent crimes, 5.6 were murders, 31.7 were rape, 140.7 were robbery and 291.1 were aggravated assault. In 2005, there were 1,400,300 violent crimes. There were 16,712 murders, 94,606 rapes, 419,911 robberies, and 868,771 cases of aggravated assault. Of the 16,712 murders committed 1 in 9 were committed by teens under the age of 18 and were involved in 1 out of 6 violent crimes. Can viewing violent images in video games and movies be the cause of teen violence. No, violent images in games or movies is not the cause of teen violence. One leading cause of violence, actually linked to causing violence, is family dysfunction. According to Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General, many aspects of the family can put children and teens at risk to become violent. “The more risk factors a child is exposed to, the greater the likelihood that he or she will become violent. One study, for example, found that a 10-year-old exposed to 6 or more risk factors is 10 times as likely to be violent by age 18 as a 10-year-old exposed to only one factor.†The leading family factors that increase the risk of violence, according to Youth Violence Statistics and Prevention are: • Authoritarian childrearing attitudes • Exposure to violence and family conflict • Harsh, lax, or inconsistent disciplinary practices • Lack of involvement in the child's life • Low emotional attachment to parents or caregivers • Low parental education and income • Parental substance abuse and criminality • Poor family functioning • Poor monitoring and supervision of children , February 19, 1997, Evan Ramsey entered Bethel Regional High School, and killed two and wounded others. Ramsey’s father was not around as he grew up because he also expressed his anger with violence, killing innocent people. After his father went to prison his mother couldn’t cope, became an alcoholic and was unable to take care of her children, who then went into foster care. When asked, teachers answered that out of all the students at school that year Ramsey was not one they could ever imagine doing such a thing. Ramsey is now spending the rest of his days in an Arizona State prison. When a child’s parent uses violence to settle problems that is the only way the child learns to solve problems. Violence as a punishment shows a child that violence is an appropriate means of problem solving. Children who do not have a strong relationships with there parents tend to be more violent then those children who do have a strong relationship with their parents. (Risk Factors for Youth Violence) Teens that do not get along with their parents, live in poverty, or have no sense of belonging, tend to walk down a dangerous path which can lead to gang membership. A gang is described by the police as a group of individuals, juvenile and or adult, who associate on a continuous basis, form an allegiance for a common purpose, and are involved in delinquent or criminal activity. Teens join gangs for many different reasons, some join for the respect and power that gangs offer, and others join in order to make money. Being in a gang can also give a teen a sense of belonging and even love, which they may not be getting at home. When things are not going well at home many teens prefer the streets. In “Gang Life Tempts Salvador Teens,†Ricardo Pollack discusses 18, a major gang in El Salvador and the teens who join the gang. In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton ordered the deportation of illegal immigrants from El Salvador. When these immigrants returned home, they took American gang culture with them. Once in El Salvador they began recruiting thousands of teens to continue the “turf wars†they had begun in America. Pollack tells about a boy named Sochi, who ran away from home at the age of thirteen because his mother abandoned him and left him with abusive relatives. On the streets, Sochi joined up with the local group of 18. Pollack quoted Sochi, who said, "I love my gang much more than my mother, when I needed my mother she wasn't there for me but the gang always will be. They are my family and give me the love of a family." Sochi reported, "Maybe I'll live till I'm 37, or if God wants, even older. Then I can be an old man and still in the gang." Most gang members do not live to the age of 30, due to the relentless killing cycle that is associated with being a gang member. It is a part of the gang life to kill rival gangsters, and the members of 18 do it without remorse. A survey in Denver, Co, by SafeYouth.org, reported that only 14% of teens were involved in a gang, and that they were responsible for 89% of the serious violence in Denver. Gang violence has been on the rise in the last decade, at the last count, there were more than 770,000 teens involved in gangs and over 24,500 different youth gangs in America. While violence is a means of protecting the gang and its territory, it is also used for initiation. Initiation varies by gang but can include robbery, assaulting an enemy gang member, and even being ‘jumped in’ by fellow gang members. Being ‘jumped in’ is the act of being assaulted by a number of gang members for a set time. If the prospective gang member survives the beating, then he is accepted into the gang. In Utica, NY, a 15 year old boy named Sang Vu was killed while being jumped into a street gang known as Asian Boyz. Sammy Chou, 24, testified that he and two 16 year olds ‘jumped in’ Vu upon his request. The boys told police officers that the initiation was intended for current gang members to pass judgment on Vus' seriousness about joining the gang. Laurie Udesky, of Consumer Health Interactive offered that another cause of teen violence is bullying. Bullying involves the tormenting of others through verbal, physical, or other more subtle methods of coercion such as manipulation. Bullying often describes a form of harassment perpetrated by an abuser having more physical and/or social power and dominance than the victim, often called the target, possesses. Bullying is pervasive in schools through out America. The Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy reported that bullying leads to higher rates of both juvenile and adult crime. Statistics show: • 160,000 students miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by a bully. • 7 percent of eighth-graders stay home at least once a month because of bullies. • Approximately 20 percent of students are scared throughout much of the school day. • 14 percent of eighth- through 12th-graders and 22 percent of fourth- through eighth-graders surveyed reported that “bullying diminished their ability to learn in school.†• 10 percent of students who drop out of school do so because of repeated bullying. • “Bullies identified by age eight are six times more likely to be convicted of a crime by age 24 and five times more likely than non-bullies to end up with serious criminal records by the age of 30†• 60 percent of students characterized as bullies in grades 6-9 had at least one criminal conviction by age 24 • Roughly two-thirds of school shooters felt persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked, or injured by others. …a number of the teenagers had suffered sustained, severe bullying and harassment†The mixture of school bullying, and depression is explosive. Depression, a mental illness, often lurks just beneath the surface of even the most violent act. Depression is a state of intense sadness, melancholia or despair that has gone on to the point of being disruptive to ones social functioning. Although a low mood or state of misery that does not affect functioning is often referred to as depression. Clinical depression is a clinical diagnosis and may be different from the everyday meaning of being depressed or feeling blue. The feeling of being depressed is often identified as a distinct sadness with no apparent cause or being unmotivated to carry on with everyday activities. Exhaustion, laziness, sadness and loneliness are signs of depression as well are loss of appetite, self loathing, weight loss or gain and a change in sleep patterns. Depression can be caused by life-changing events such as the death of a parent, abandonment or rejection, neglect, chronic illness, and physical, psychological, or sexual abuse. (Teen Depression Statistics and Warning Signs). Evan Ramsey, the 16 year old Bethel Regional High School murderer, was seen by a psychiatrist, Dr. John Smith, a few months after the murders. Smith found that the boy had been suffering from depression since the age of 10, and even attempted to commit suicide. He frequently struggled to control his explosive temper. (Rage: A Look at a Teen Killer), David Turner, a 17 year old asked his ex-girlfriend, Jessica Forsyth to meet him after school in order to return a watch that had belonged to her deceased father. Forsyth agreed to meet with Turner in order to get the watch back, but nothing else. They were to meet outside of Forsyth’s new school, H.H. Dow High School where she had just transferred because Turner “wouldn’t leave her alone.†When Turner arrived at Jessica's new school, he reached into his back pack, but did not pull out the watch. However, he did pull out a 44-caliber Magnum revolver and began firing it at Forsyth. The young girl was shot four times and thanks to a metal plate in her chest which had been used to fuse her broken collar bone when she was younger, she survived. What would drive a 17-year old boy to shoot his ex-girlfriend? Turner’s mother said he suffered from bipolar disorder and had recently stopped taking his medication. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depression, is a mental illness defined by periods of extreme, sometimes unpredictable mood swings, generally of an inappropriate nature. Those diagnosed with bipolar disorder often have distinct experiences of mania, hypomania or mixed states, alternating with clinical depression. Bipolar individuals tend to have very irrational thinking, where everything is either good or bad. The mood patterns of those diagnosed with bipolar disorder are associated with distress and disruption. Bipolar disorder is connected with a variety of cognitive deficits, such as organizational and planning oriented problems. The disorder alters ones sense of consciousness and also distorts ones ability to judge the emotions of others. Those diagnosed with bipolar disorder can be paranoid and hyper vigilant of their surroundings, and are easily upset. Douglas Eby, author of “Bad Seed - Antecedents of Teen Violenceâ€, reported that up to 22% of children and teens under the age of 18, were in need of some form of psychiatric intervention. Eby also found that little over 1% of mentally ill children were admitted into treatment, and that 20% of children diagnosed with conduct disorder will be diagnosed with bipolar as adults. Teen violence is not caused by the violent images seen in movies and games. By age 18, an American child will have seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence. In spite of the amount of violence witnessed by adolescent, Federal Bureau of Investigation source files have shown that teen violence began to decline by 1993, and continued to dramatically decrease through out “the PlayStation Era,†as depicted in Figure 1. Fig. 1 -http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/ violence_and_videogames The Bureau of Justice Statistics as quoted by Duke Ferris, "Recently, the offending rates for 14-17 year-olds reached the lowest levels ever recorded." This means that the PlayStation Era has produced the least violent generation ever. <3 nate |
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| Wildcard23 |
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Registered Member #514
Joined: Wed Dec 20 2006, 06:33AMPosts: 1067 |
Now that's a long freaking post. Damn. Took me a while to read through it. I got what you were trying to argue. I don't think that you really summed it up as well in regards to the conclusion of pouding home your point. You provided a lot of evidence to support your claim but didn't finish the paper with the big bang conclusion I was expecting. Maybe that's just me. I'm interested to see what you teacher says about it. Make sure you let us know. You should have considered speaking about MS13 when you discussed gangs. I had a lot of dealings with them and they are one of the largest gang presence in the US. Lots of published works about them and their practices. Otherwise, good job with securing a tremendous amount of evidence for the paper. 
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| creativenate88 |
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Registered Member #545
Joined: Sun Jan 21 2007, 08:11PM Posts: 263 |
Thank you wild, i was sooo sick of writing this paper......i kinda let the conclusion slip. Oh and double space in MLA format thats 11 full pages. Edited Wed Mar 14 2007, 09:39PM | ||
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| jigg4joe |
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Registered Member #326
Joined: Wed Jul 05 2006, 04:15AMPosts: 635 |
for my senior project in college, our final paper was 237 pages long and took a semester to write. | ||
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| nostie |
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Registered Member #185
Joined: Thu Mar 30 2006, 10:42PMPosts: 3167 |
wow jigg I'm going to get raped in college. I'd procrastinate until the end and be like "holy shit. 237 pages in a day?" and pull it off | ||
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| Knightrider |
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Meteor 2016
Registered Member #316
Joined: Mon Jun 26 2006, 09:14PMPosts: 3503 |
I could probably type 80 or 90 pages and then get bored in a day. But what the hell did you write it on? I'll read your paper Creative once I have some time. I just got home and I'm just checking the forums before I head off to bed. | ||
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| Ninca |
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Registered Member #561
Joined: Sun Feb 04 2007, 07:45AMPosts: 1109 |
Yeah Jigg... 237 fucking pages? Damnnn, the longest paper i've ever done is a 10 page, that was due on yesterday lol, and nostie im with you, procrastination ftw! | ||
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| nostie |
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Registered Member #185
Joined: Thu Mar 30 2006, 10:42PM Posts: 3167 |
my longest paper: 3 pages or so | ||
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| Wildcard23 |
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Registered Member #514
Joined: Wed Dec 20 2006, 06:33AM Posts: 1067 |
Pshhhhh. You guys know that's bullshit. Jigg only wrote 237 pages with the font on size 25 and the each paragraph was quadrupled spaced. Please Jigg. Trying to make your e-cock bigger by trying to impress everyone here. Loser. LOLs!! <3 <3 
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| drunkirishmafia |
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Registered Member #289
Joined: Sat Jun 10 2006, 05:17AMPosts: 1543 |
it impressed me | ||
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