iPods - Not Video Games - Causing Crime?

Forget the nonsense that says playing Counter-strike causes shooting rampages or firing up Bully leads to dishing out swirlies. When it comes to pop culture, iPods may be the real cause of crime.

At least, that’s the conclusion of the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. As reported by the Associated Press:

They argue that the tantalizing gadgets are perhaps the main reason U.S. violent crime rose in 2005 and 2006 after declining every year since 1991—although a close look at the findings suggests the hypothesis has holes.

The AP notes that robberies - the taking of something by force - which had been in a longterm decline, surged in 2005 and 2006. During that same time period, the iPod went mainstream. Annual sales jumped from 5 million in 2004 to 90 million by 2006:

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.

Jack McDevitt of Northeastern University’s College of Criminal Justice, however, was skeptical:

There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence of cell phones, iPods, GPS systems that have been targets for theft… I could sort of understand and buy that in… a short spike for a few months. But to suggest that that’s driving the crime numbers in any major way, I don’t think so.

http://gamepolitics.com/2008/03/06/i...causing-crime/