The release of Grand Theft Auto V and registered juvenile crime in the Netherlands

Prior research suggests that playing videogames can have a voluntary incapacitating effect on criminal behaviour. The current study investigates whether this negative association between videogames in general and crime rates can also be found for the release of a single videogame – Grand Theft Auto...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Beerthuizen, Marinus GCJ (Author)
Contributors: Weijters, Gijs ; Laan, A. M. van der
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
In: European journal of criminology
Year: 2017, Volume: 14, Issue: 6, Pages: 751-765
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Keywords:
Grand Theft Auto V
Juvenile crime
Videogames
Voluntary incapacitation
Description
Summary:Prior research suggests that playing videogames can have a voluntary incapacitating effect on criminal behaviour. The current study investigates whether this negative association between videogames in general and crime rates can also be found for the release of a single videogame – Grand Theft Auto V (GTAV) – and for registered juvenile crime in the Netherlands. A diminishing effect was modelled to estimate the active player base of GTAV (that is, the most players are active on and directly following release, with a decline in the weeks thereafter) and correlated with the number of registered offences in 2012–15 committed by males aged 12–18 and 18–25 years in a time series analysis. The effect of the release of GTAV was negatively associated with the number of registered offences in both age categories, while controlling for covariates (for example, day of the week). Implications are discussed.
ISSN:1741-2609
DOI:10.1177/1477370817717070