Juvenile crime is rising in Japan. A government study, released this month, showed a sharp rise in acts of violence. In 2005, there was a record 336 cases of student-on-sensei violence with kids throwing chairs and physically threatening their teachers. This number is up from 253 a year earlier. Outside of the classroom, children are equally bad and being arrested for everything from arson to murder. Things have gotten so bad that a new law has been passed, lowering the prosecution age to 14 years old.

So, instead of trying to figure out what drives children to crime, activists are (big surprise) blaming games. Japanese school kids spend 3 hours a day playing computer games. "To develop a safe environment for children, the necessary step is to ask software companies to continue making games that will educate the player and avoid content that can make them violent," says pundit Prof. Takashi Sakamoto.

Leading a new wave of concerned do-gooders, Sakamoto's research shows that regularly playing violent games may result in harming children's mind. He also points out, however, that games with a story and that have allies working together to defeat an common enemy do not lead to real world violence. Hey, ya know what that means? World of Warcraft does not encourage Japanese school kids to kill each other. Wonderful.

Let's Blame Violent Games [IPS News]

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