One politician sees the increase in violent car robbery as an effect of an extremely popular video game.
The greater area around the metropolis of Chicago in the USA is currently struggling with an increase in carjackings, i.e. robberies in which cars are stolen from their owners while they are on the move.
The Democratic MP Marcus Evans has found an explanation for the increase in such crimes: The fault is the video game Grand Theft Auto (GTA), which was first released in 1997. This and such video games are the “main problem,” he says, according to a report on ABC. GTA and other “violent video games” would normalize carjacking. “Carjacking is not normal and carjacking has to stop,” said Evans, stealing cars is indeed an essential part of the GTA series.
So the politician plans to create a bill that will ban the game from being sold in the state of Illinois. He also receives support from the local activist Early Walker, who founded a kind of vigilante group to protect people from attacks while refueling.
Evans and Walker have “researched” together and came to the conclusion that the Carjackings were “heavily” influenced by GTA.
Experts have a clear answer
Video games are repeatedly associated with violence and crime by politicians and other people apart from the professional world, although there are now numerous studies that suggest the opposite.
A meta-analysis of 28 studies was only published in mid-2020. The researchers concluded: “Current research cannot support the hypothesis that violent video games have a significant long-term effect on youth aggression.”
Numerous similar studies have previously been carried out. A study in Great Britain, for example, also asked parents and came to the conclusion that there is definitely no connection between violent games and an increase in aggressive behavior.
