NCJ Number
169526
Date Published
Unknown
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video consists of a panel presentation that provides an overview of the causes and effects of violence, particularly as it impacts children, and some preventive measures that can be taken.
Abstract
The panel's overview of violence causes and effects focuses on the impact on children of exposure to real-life violence and violence portrayed in the media. The panel's comments are interspersed with comments by children regarding their feelings engendered by exposure to real-life and media violence. The children's dominant feelings from being exposed to violence are fear and sadness. In addition to discussing exposure to real-life violence in the home and the community as well as media violence, one panel member focuses on the availability of firearms and the risk posed to children of the large number of firearms in people's homes. A suggestion for limiting the exposure of children to real-life violence is the development of programs that teach parenting skills for parents of preschool children, such that child abuse, a primary factor in a child's development of violent behavior, is prevented. Suggestions for preventing exposure to media violence include a limitation on the amount of time children view television, the selection of positive programs, diversion to more active and positive activities, and parental discussions with children about what they are viewing on television. Regarding the accessibility of firearms, a panel member suggests that the public press for treating firearms like any other consumer product that poses a danger to the public. The panelist suggests that access to firearms be limited through local ordinances that reduce or eliminate gun shops and that firearms be so designed that accidental firings are eliminated. Another panelists addresses the importance of giving priority to preventive measures rather than investing so much in incarceration after violence has already been committed.