Cause or Catalyst: The Interaction of Real World and Media Crime Models

Violent video games and physical aggression: Evidence for a selection effect among adolescents.

“…The main limitation of the Catalyst Model is that it is difficult to test, as the measurement of genetic and proximal social risk factors poses substantial challenges to the methods of social science research. To date only three studies have systematically tested the Catalyst Model and found support for its main assumptions (Ferguson, Ivory, et al, 2013;Surette, 2013). The Downward Spiral Model by Slater et al (2003) is a theory that accounts for both the socialization and the selection hypothesis.…”

Criminal behavior and the copycat effect: Literature review and theoretical framework for empirical investigation

“…The copycat effect influences crime in two ways: images presented in media and popular culture can trigger a person to commit criminal behavior or shape the form criminal behavior may take (Surette, 1998(Surette, , 2012(Surette, , 2013. Media images may send a would-be offender over the edge or give ideas about how to commit a crime to someone who was planning to commit a crime anyway.…”

“…Copycat crime is crime inspired by another crime that has been publicized in the news media or fictionally or artistically represented whereby the offender incorporates aspects of the original offense into a new crime (Helfgott, 2008). Research suggests that copycat crime is a common part of offender criminal histories with approximately 25% offenders reporting that media or popular culture played some role in their crimes (Surette, 2002(Surette, , 2012(Surette, , 2013. However, researchers have not been able to isolate a single stimulus like playing a violent video game as a causative factor for crime and violence amidst the many influences and risk factors that contribute to criminal behavior and some contend that it is virtually impossible to do so.…”

The Association between Sexist Games and Diminished Empathy Remains Tenuous: Lessons from Gabbiadini et al. (2017) and Gabbiadini et al. (2016) Regarding Sensationalism and Accuracy in Media Research

“…Much of its central theses regarding video games or other media causing copycat crimes has since been discredited (Surette 2013;Surette and Maze 2015).…”