This seems to be the hot topic that is going round these days. A few days ago, a couple of us happened to catch a glimpse of 'crime watch' during our lunch break and we broke into a whole debate over exposure or plain exposure to violence leading to aggressive behaviour.
I wouldnt say that crime watch is necessarily violent. I do however, feel that it teaches you the secrets of the trade into the criminality. I've heard comments coming from my colleagues that their children make comments such as "If i were him, i would have done this (insert modified action) instead, and i wouldn't have got caught". This simply goes to show that there is deep processing of what they see and from there they choose to improve on the existing behaviour, which they might not even thought about, should they not have seen the video clip to begin with. So if anyone is to carry out this 'improved' technique in real life, are they then totally responsible for their behaviour? Afterall, it was planned by someone else and it was merely improved on. I would think it is just the lack of consequential thinking.
Moving on to technology. The root of all evil, or most rather. PSP games are beginning to produce games that cause more harm than any good at all. A sudden increase in theft, snatch theft and robbery in society at present, especially those committed by youths, i start to ponder why oh why this is happening. Does incessant usage of these games result in an adoption of identity of what they can relate to in the game? Do they take on the role of the mafia/gangster/robber in the game and apply it to the real world, turning their fantasy into reality? What in the world happened to cartoons like Care bears and captain planet? Why is there a need to only use violence to fight evil- like in power rangers and whatever other rangers there are these days.
Whatever it is, i think this is where pro-social support is very important. As much as we look at these youths as kids and allow them to do whatever they want to entertain themselves in their free time, its time to take a step back and evaluate the harms of it. Would you rather strike when the iron is hot or after there is too much damage done? Think about it.