Читать книгу Criminology For Dummies - Steven Briggs - Страница 109

Some criminologists look to cultural values within a society as a potential cause for violence. For example, the murder rate in Japan has been measured at less than 10 percent of that in the United States. For this reason, some people have theorized that the United States, which highly values independence and self-reliance, may have more violence, in part, because of these values. In contrast, Japan is a more socially organized country that places less value on independently resolving conflict and, thus, has less violence.

Today’s society also offers people constant access to violent messages. Some people believe that relentless exposure to violence (through TV programs, movies, music, video games, and so on) may desensitize children, making them more likely to resort to violence to resolve conflicts. One analysis concluded that by the time the average child in the United States reaches the age of 8, she has seen 8,000 murders on TV, and by the time she reaches 18, she’s seen more than 200,000 acts of violence on TV.

I devote Chapter 13 to exploring theories of how society may influence someone to become a criminal.