IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jmedec/v33y2020i3-4p49-73.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Violent Video Games and Crime

Author

Listed:
  • Joost Impink
  • Patrick Kielty
  • Han Stice
  • Roger White

Abstract

This study examines the change in crime observed in the weeks following the release (exogenous shocks to video game play) of top-selling video games between 2006 and 2011. We find that the release of violent (Mature-rated) video games is associated with an increase in overall crime in the weeks following release. Crime increases for both youth and adults following blockbuster Mature-rated releases, but the increase in crime among youth is approximately four times greater (8%) than the increase among adults (2%). Conversely, we find that the release of best-selling nonviolent (Everyone-rated) video games is not associated with a change in crime in the weeks directly following the release. Our results suggest that the release of violent video games increases crime in the United States, at least in the short-term, especially among the under-17 population for whom Mature-rated games are explicitly labeled as not “suitable.” Interestingly, our results are completely moderated in U.S. counties that forbid alcohol sales, which suggests that alcohol is a necessary channel through which exposure to violent video games contributes to crime.

Suggested Citation

  • Joost Impink & Patrick Kielty & Han Stice & Roger White, 2020. "Violent Video Games and Crime," Journal of Media Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3-4), pages 49-73, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jmedec:v:33:y:2020:i:3-4:p:49-73
    DOI: 10.1080/08997764.2021.2008409
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08997764.2021.2008409
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/08997764.2021.2008409?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jmedec:v:33:y:2020:i:3-4:p:49-73. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/HMEC20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.