How have children and teens been affected by video games?

I chose this topic

because it is one that can and has been discussed extensively in the criminal justice
field. There are many points of view surrounding video games and how they affect
children and teens. An example of this point of view is whether or not video games
cause violence in children and teens.
Some claims that I will be making toward the point of view of video games not
being a factor in children and teens becoming violent are that many video games that
children enjoy are not of a violent nature, there are a multitude of educational video
games, there are many real-life factors that can cause children to become violent, many
people use video games as a way to decompress and relax after stressful days, and
that there have been a large number of serial killers that did not have access to many, if
any at all, video games. The knowledge I will gain from researching this topic will be
helpful in determining whether this point of view is usable in convictions or admissible in
the courtroom when a defendant is claiming this as their main objective. The argument
of whether or not video games cause violence is one that may be difficult to prove from
a scientific outlook but can be looked at from the eyes of a nonviolent player of these
video games. These nonviolent players are proof that video games are not the root or
sole cause of children and teens becoming violent.
The sources that I will be seeking to use as I gather information will be online
articles discussing both sides of this argument, articles written by doctors and scholars
who have done extensive research on this topic, speaking with friends who play video
games, and any accessible court documents from cases that video games have been
the defendant’s reason for becoming violent.
Some obstacles that I expect while researching are articles written by unverified
sources, typically parents or victims of criminals who have claimed video games as their
reasoning for becoming violent. I am also expecting a lot of articles that have not been
thoroughly researched and have no sources to back up the authors’ statements. There
are many parents out there who will blame video games because it is an easy out when
it is difficult for them to admit to improper parenting or abuse that may have been
imposed upon the child or teen that has become violent. Another obstacle I expect will
be trying to get the court documents from cases that have used video games as an
excuse for their crimes.
Based on the research I have done so far; I believe that my point of view is valid.
The evidence that I find the most compelling is my personal friendships with people who
play video games. These friends are not violent and have not considered committing
crimes based on the video games that they play. In researching this topic, I believe that
in the future video games will not be allowed to be involved in criminal cases. The
argument of video games should be as invalid of an argument as demonic possession.
Other people can use this topic in social work with children and teens, by taking a
deeper look into the root cause of the child’s violent behavior and determining that there
are deeper, more realistic causes for their becoming violent.