Rising Crime: Don’t Blame the Games, Target the iPod
By Shawn on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 8:33 PM PST In Gamer Life, Games, Games Industry
While every other group seems to be pointing fingers at videogames for the rise in violence, theft and a long list of other offensive and criminal behavior; The Urban Institute of Washington is putting the blame Apple’s iPod.
Crime which had been declining since 1991 took a sharp turn for the worst in 2005 and 2006. Then came the iPod; an easily pocketed, un-copy protected, easily fenced item with a small fortune of songs and components all in one handy little package. With the owner completely zoned while rocking through their routines, the iPod is an easy target for criminals with a mind to rob the oblivious of their treasures.
One widely accepted theory holds that crime happens when three things come together: A motivated offender encounters a suitable victim and perceives a high chance of getting away with it. And the Urban Institute researchers believe the sudden prevalence of iPods increased all three factors.
Anecdotal evidence bears out a lot of this. Subway officials in New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., reported big increases in iPods being stolen from passengers. News reports cast the iPod as the latest must-steal item for some thugs, following in the footsteps of things like Air Jordan sneakers.
Not everyone agrees with this theory of an “iCrime wave.”
“There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence of cell phones, iPods, GPS systems that have been targets for theft. No research can tell us those wouldn’t have been substituted for other things,” said Jack McDevitt, associate dean at Northeastern University’s College of Criminal Justice.
“I guess I could sort of understand and buy that in a very narrow place, in a short period of time—a short spike for a few months,” he said. “But to suggest that that’s driving the crime numbers in any major way, I don’t think so.”
via DenverPost
When the hell will we evolve as a society and start placing the blame on people instead of items? It seems we have become such a weak society that no one is ever personally responsible for their own actions.
While they’re at it, might as well blame ol’Henry Ford for starting the grand theft auto spree. I also blame all candy makers for my shoplifting charge when i was 9.
total bs.
Its been common knowledge in the UK that the rise of the ipod lead to a large increase in street robbery. The Police over here have been going on about it for years. I remember when it first came out they were advising people to buy black headphones to use with it so muggers couldn’t immediately see you had a thousand bucks of hardware and tunes in your pocket.
Well, there is some truth to it.
What do you think when you see someone with white headphones? “Hey, that person probably has an iPod”
What does a criminal think? “Hey look, that person has 400 dollars of easliy stealable goods.”
And I’m not saying iPods cause crime, I’m just saying there are people with the mindset to steal, If the oppritunity arrises, they will steal.
Who wants to bet that by the time our multimedia devices are surgically implanted in our heads, crime will go down. Or decapitations will go up, idk, it’s a crazy world