Violent movies REDUCE violence

A new study reveals that violent movies produce a DROP in violent crime. Yes, violent movies reduce violence.

The author, a mormon who hates violent movies, looked for a correlation between violent movies and violent crime, and found that during a week when a violent movie is showing in theaters, violent crime goes down. His theory is that young men, who commit most violent crime, are busy watching movies instead of getting drunk and hurting people.

The haters all will say that violent movies and TV and video games desensitize us to violence, so even if there's a short term drop in violence, movies of torture eventually lead to long term increases in violence. Both sets of studies beg the correlation question: do violent criminals become violent because of media, or are they already violent, and drawn to that media.

In any event, the mormon economist observes that any movie that draws in young men results in less crime. The final line of the Times article sticks the landing:


“We need more Adam Sandler movies,” he said. “Even though I’m not a big fan of Adam Sandler, that’s the implication."