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Crime

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Whether computer games encourage violent behavior outside of the virtual world, as many concerned mothers believe, is a source of continual debate. While the experts who agree the link exists have the welcome ear of many politicians, the experts who don't believe the link is significant see the debate as distracting the public from the real causes of violence.
Economic inequality is correlated with crime rates, but whether the link is causal is a matter of ongoing debate.
On August 6 and 9, 1945, the U.S. President Harry S. Truman ordered the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, upon which Japan surrendered, ending World War II. Over 200,000 people died, mostly civilians. It has remained the only time atomic bombs have ever been used in warfare.
Civilian casualties are inevitable in war, but is it an acceptable strategy to explicitly target civilians?
Some people are concerned that Barack Obama, being black and having "Hussein" in his name, makes him an assassination target for bigots.
The arguments for the death penalty include its use as a deterrent, a means to save lives, and a way to enact justice. Common counterarguments are that it fails as a deterrent, that justice is perverted because a certain proportion of convicts are later found innocent, and that under no circumstances is killing acceptable if it can be prevented.
Michael Jackson was put on trial for molesting Gavin Arvizo, a 13 year old boy (at the time of the offenses). On 13 Jun 2005 the jury acquitted Michael Jackson of all charges. However, his reputation has never fully recovered, with comedians joking about him molesting kids both before anything was proven and long after he was found innocent. Michael Jackson died on the 25th of June, 2009, from a heart attack, at age 50.
The abortion-reduces-crime hypothesis was popularized by Steven Levitt and John Donohue in their best selling book "Freakonomics". Their theory was based on the observation that crime dropped in the early 90s, right at the time when would-be criminals would have come of age, had abortion not been legalized in the 70s.
O.J. Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of murdering his wife and friend in a protracted trial that received widespread media attention due to Simpson's celebrity status. To this day America is divided as to whether he was guilty, with many feeling that justice was not served.
Phonte
...the only thing Michael was guilty of in my opinion, was naivete. While cuddling in the bed with children isn't technically illegal, it does violate several social norms; norms that a man who [...] refers to himself as “Peter Pan” would certainly pay a higher price for breaking. ...laying in bed with those children, watching movies, tickling, and engaging in general horseplay, sounds less like the work of a pedophile and more like the actions of a man trying to experience a [lost] childhood.
Timothy Lynch
In truth, Simpson walked because the government prosecutors -- Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden -- were incompetent. ... To deflect attention away from their poor performance, the prosecutors have since embraced the myth that Johnnie Cochran worked some kind of magic that got 12 people to disregard the facts of the case. The myth has become entrenched because it works to the benefit of all of the key players: the defense lawyers, the prosecutors, and the trial judge.
Vincent Bugliosi
The suicide note reeked, I mean reeked, with guilt. The slow-speed chase: Found in Simpson's possession was a gun, changes of clothing, $8000 in cash that A.C. Cowlings said Simpson had given him just before they stopped. This all reeked of Simpson's guilt. ... He admitted dripping blood on his estate the night of the murders [yet] said he had no idea how he had been cut. ... When I used the term incompetent to describe the prosecution, for the most part that is too flattering a term.
Janet Arvizo
Neverland is all about pornography, booze and sex with boys.
US Department of Health & Human Services
We clearly associate media violence to aggressive behavior. But the impact was very small compared to other things. Some may not be happy with that, but that's where the science is.
Hillary Clinton
Children are playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them. This is a silent epidemic of media desensitisation that teaches kids it’s okay to diss people because they are a woman, they’re a different colour or they’re from a different place.
Cheryl K. Olson
Much of the information in the popular press about the effects of violent video games is wrong. The real puzzle is that anyone looking at the research evidence in this field could draw any conclusions about the pattern, let alone argue with such confidence and even passion that it demonstrates the harm of violence on television, in film and in video games.
Craig A. Anderson
Some studies have yielded nonsignificant video game effects, just as some smoking studies failed to find a significant link to lung cancer. But when one combines all relevant empirical studies using meta-analytic techniques, five separate effects emerge with considerable consistency. Violent video games are significantly associated with: increased aggressive behavior, thoughts, and affect; increased physiological arousal; and decreased prosocial (helping) behavior.
Norman Loayza
In this article we take an empirical cross-country perspective to investigate the robustness and causality of the link between income inequality and crime rates. ... We find that crime rates and inequality are positively correlated (within each country and, particularly, between countries), and it appears that this correlation reflects causation from inequality to crime rates, even controlling for other crime determinants.

New Comments

0 Points       Benja       09 Aug 2010     Did Michael Jackson molest children? General Comment
Well that settles the matter.

1 Point       swampdonk       25 Jul 2010     Were the atomic bombs dropped on Japan justified? Disagree
There was absolutly no reason for the allies to be so hasty in dropping the bomb. There were other options available to secure Japan's surrender that were neglected. For instance, they could have made a stronger attempt to induce the Japanese to surrender, they were aware of the fact that the main reason Japan refused to give up was over concerns that by unconditionally surrendering the Imperial dynasty would have been destroyed. The allies also had every intention of keeping the emperor in place in order to govern the Japanese people during occupation. Why they dropped the bombs instead of attempting to coax a surrender is impossible to determine but several theories have sprung up such as revenge (just look at the above quote by Truman), intimidating the Russians so they would be easier to deal with in Europe, and ending the war quickly so the Russians can not occupy Japan and attempt to turn her communist. Had the Allies shown a little more restraint instead of going straight for the throat it would be easier to support the bombing.

0 Points       the27th       03 Jul 2010     Can abortion significantly reduce crime? Mostly Disagree
Steve Levitt uses doubtful methodology.

0 Points       the27th       03 Jul 2010     Does economic inequality cause crime? Mostly Disagree
People cause their own actions.
Inequality correlates with crime. Poverty very plausibly makes crime easier and other ways of making money harder. And childhood poverty harms brain development, in particular decision-making. But I do insist on being persnickety about this: short of very serious brain damage, one's actions are chosen, so no, environmental factors do not cause crime.

0 Points       Benja       01 Jul 2010     Did Michael Jackson molest children? Disagree
The two competing scenarios are:

1. MJ was guilty of pedophilia.
2. MJ's accusers were guilty of extortion.

I find '2' more likely. It seems highly plausible, having run the Neverland Ranch for that long, and being such an eccentric person in both behavior and appearance, that such an accusation would occur. Given that the parents of the kid MJ was accused of molesting had a track-record of lying, this really seems to confirm this scenario. Ultimately, the court not only failed to find any conclusive evidence against him, but the jury said that they "confidently came to their verdict". I can't rule out the possibility he was guilty, but the evidence strongly points towards his innocence. Furthermore, as a matter of principle, I believe people should be regarded as innocent until proven guilty. I've seen first hand that self-described "good people" can talk themselves into a lie that benefits them, even if it costs another person their time, money, and reputation. The principle of presuming innocence serves to fight that injustice.

0 Points       Benja       21 Jun 2010     Were the atomic bombs dropped on Japan justified? General Comment
I'm not a historian so I won't comment as to whether the bombs saved lives. I do believe however, that you're too hasty and enthusiastic in reaching the conclusion that no Japanese person was innocent. Do you think, had you or I been born in the 1920s in Japan, that we could have gone against the flow? Do you think we would have - on moral grounds - refused to join our country's army and have had the strength to face the consequences of taking that stance? By your own words you don't seem to give a fuck about "people who I have never met who would probably kill me given the chance". Most people born into a bad regime could be pushed into bad behavior, and the people who died were not intrinsically better or worse than ordinary people like me and you. Maybe the bombs were necessary, but it was a tragedy, and it is of the utmost arrogance to say that the people who died were not innocent, as if we, with our privileged lives, not only get to live those privileged lives, but also get to claim the moral high-ground over the dead.

0 Points       Benja       21 Jun 2010     Were the atomic bombs dropped on Japan justified? General Comment
Most people who get killed in wars are not evil people - they're just terribly unlucky people born at the wrong time and wrong place. Most of the people killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were just ordinary civilians living under a regime they did not choose. Now, there is ignorance in pacifism - yes, some wars are justified, as is the loss of civilian life. But there is an even less thoughtful ignorance in the belief that an entire country is comprised of evil people.

"They should all burn in hell"? While I don't consider myself a Christian, I still consider it a red flag when someone says something that seems to entirely disregard the compassion that Jesus espoused.

1 Point       the27th       18 Jun 2010     Are computer games a significant cause of violence? Disagree
God no.
First of all the evidence is against it.
Second of all, video games are a fictional representation of violence -- are you a serial killer if you read Macbeth? Sometimes the people who are interested in fictional representations of violence have what I'd call a writerly imagination... they want to look at human nature at the extremes. I know people like that and they're actually intensely non-violent. It's not actually a wish-fulfillment fantasy.

1 Point       Anon E Mous       06 Jun 2010     Can abortion significantly reduce crime? General Comment
Whether or not you think abortion is murder is irrevalent. The point was if prostitutes, crackheads, and people who are unmarried or not in good relationships, and unstable financially are allowed to have children, it is assumed they will raise unstable, unhappy children who will grow up and be attracted to the crime element. I don't know of specific numbers in reducing crime rates, but it seems reasonable to allow those people the right to have abortions. There are enough unwanted children in the world already.

0 Points       the27th       09 May 2010     Is Barack Obama more likely to be assassinated than other US presidents? Mostly Agree
It's a worry. God forbid.

But he's also the most powerful man in the world, and I'm sure he and his wife haven't forgotten that he's black, so he's probably quite well taken care of.

0 Points       Benja       09 May 2010     Were the atomic bombs dropped on Japan justified? General Comment
"Honestly war horrifies me to the point that I have no appropriate moral framework to apply to it."

I agree it's difficult, but not so much because it horrifies me, but more because the moral equation is complicated. At one level, if the bomb saved lives, the moral framework of utilitarianism provides a basis for a decision. The problem is, this doesn't distinguish between civilian and military lives. If people choose to be in the military, and they understand the risk it entails, then presumably their lives are more expendable than civilians, who have not willingly accepted that risk. But how much more expendable? This is not clear to me. And of course during WWII they had a draft (which weakens the distinction between civilian and military lives), the morality of which is a separate question, but which in fact affects the answer to this question.

1 Point       the27th       09 May 2010     Were the atomic bombs dropped on Japan justified? Neutral
I've been told that the bombs saved lives. We did kill more people in urban firebombings than in the nuclear attacks. But I have my doubts that exterminating a city can be justifiable.

Honestly war horrifies me to the point that I have no appropriate moral framework to apply to it.


Crime Question Index

Is the death penalty acceptable?
Did Michael Jackson molest children?
Is it acceptable to target (i.e. kill) civilians in war?
Does economic inequality cause crime?
Did O.J. Simpson murder his wife and her friend?
Are computer games a significant cause of violence?
Can abortion significantly reduce crime?
Were the atomic bombs dropped on Japan justified?
Does the Scared Straight program deter criminal behavior?
Is Barack Obama more likely to be assassinated than other US presidents?
Are polygraphs reliable?