Teen Gets 23 Years In Jail For Killing His Mom; Judge, AP Blame Video Games
from the should-have-sentenced-the-video-game-then dept
Back in January, we wrote about the murder trial of teenager Daniel Petric, who had killed his mother and shot and wounded his father. Daniel had attempted to use the ever popular "blame the video game" approach, claiming that he was addicted to the game Halo 3, and when his parents took away the game, he was so addicted that he went and shot them both not believing that death was permanent. Luckily, the judge rejected that ridiculous argument, though still did seem to question video games. Of course, there was significant additional evidence, including details that Daniel had planned for weeks beforehand to kill his parents, suggesting this had a lot more to do with a mentally disturbed teen than with an "addiction to violent video games."But why let that get in the way of a good story. Mark alerts us to the Associated Press's coverage of Petric's sentencing to 23-years in jail, pointing out how ridiculous the AP's opening sentence is:
A Ohio teen who shot and killed his mother and wounded his minister father was sentenced Tuesday to 23 years in prison for crimes rooted in his obsession with video games with violent themes.Beyond the grammatical mistake (should be "An" not "A"), it's simply not correct that the crimes were "rooted in his obsession with video games with violent themes." The rest of the article again focuses on Daniel's supposed "addiction," as if that's the cause of his actions. Part of it is that the judge seemed to buy into this story as well, claiming:
It's my firm belief that after a while the same physiological responses occur that occur in the ingestion of some drugs. And I believe that an addiction to these games can do the same thing...Now, it may be that Petric had no idea they'd be dead forever, but that wouldn't be because of video games. It would be because of some sort of severe mental problem on his part. Study after study after study has shown that teens can tell reality from fiction. On top of that, as violent video games have become more popular, incidents of youth violence have continued to drop. If video games were really having such an impact, it would be the reverse. Petric was obviously a very disturbed teen, and yes, he played violent video games (just like nearly every other kid his age, I'd imagine), but it's ridiculous to blame his decision to murder his parents on those games. He'll now be locked up for decades, not because of any video game, but because of his own disturbed decision to shoot his parents.
The other dangerous thing about these games, in my opinion, is that when these changes occur, they occur in an environment that is delusional. Because you can shoot these aliens, and they're there again the next day. You have to shoot them again. And I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea, at the time he hatched this plot, that if he killed his parents, they would be dead forever.
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Filed Under: murder, video games, violence
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Just goes to show you....
Trying to get people to feel sorry for a teen who killed a parent and wounded the other because he was disciplined and had the game taken away but he was so addicted he felt he could kill them and they would "re-spawn"? I dont think so folks.
Ive played violent video games all my life and my father was a police officer with a gun in the house always and if you read my hometown paper there arent any stories in there of me thinking I can just go around and shot people and have them come back because thats how it works in GTA Vice City.
Get over it....he was a disturbed little kid who unfortunately took the life of someone else instead of his own.
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Sensationalism!
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Re: Sensationalism!
A better take on this would have been how the parents didn't have control over their child. A minister father?
Seems more of a manipulation by the news organization to suit their particular purposes which are to report on the failure of the family unit, a need for increased government role in people's lives via regulation, and ultimately sell newspapers and (if on television) advertising.
Yay advertising and it's ugly sensationalistic siblings.
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Kind of snarky pointing out grammer in the original article. Do we really want to go there?
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Re:
Yes, but they sent him there because he planned and killed one of his parents, and tried to kill the other. Video games more then likely had nothing to do with any of this(the only thing I could even suggest might have come from games is if he found out where to shoot due to playing the games, like a headshot....).
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Me pointing out that you spelled grammar wrong is snarky.
Commenting on grammatical errors made by a news reporting agency, while beyond the point of Mike's post, isn't snarky. I do believe, however, that he was being a bit cynical on purpose.
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Understanding Death
Furthermore, this judge seems to have "firm belief[s]" in things not rooted in reality.
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Re: Understanding Death
1)When things die, it isn't pretty, and it is permanent, and
2)Stay the hell off the road, I don't care if your baseball rolled to the other side. Having to help bury the pet helps in both cases.
Seriously, though, who is this Mensan judge that is willing to say crap like this as part of the legal record?
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Re: Understanding Death
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Give me a break.
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Is anybody else bothered by the fact that this judge is talking about his firm belief in a very specific medical condition? He is entering into the world of science here, which is not a discipline that has any room for belief. Something is either supported by the evidence, or it is not. If it is questionable, you keep testing until you get to the bottom of it.
Study after study has shown that there is no link between video game violence and real world violence. This is what the EVIDENCE says. If you are going to be trampling into the world of science the only thing you need to know is the evidence, belief should not play any part whatsoever. This judge very clearly has no idea how science works, and as such, ought to be keeping his mouth shut on matters such as this. Talk about law all you want, but leave the science to the scientists.
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Re:
So it seems the ruling was based on belief and not scientific method. I wonder if this Judge meddles in other belief systems, like the earth being flat.
He seems to believe that delusional environments exist. Perhaps rulings that come from his courtroom can be seen as delusional to outsiders.
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Another sad example
As the cops took me away and threw me into the back of their squad car, I shouted "Where's my Goddam Princess, you sons of bitches? I was promised a damn princess!"
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Re: Another sad example
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Re: Another sad example
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Re:
and I remember reading (I think it was from someone on a message boards who was on them at one time) that psychiatric drugs put people in a "dreamlike" state. Also, naturalnews.com has anecdotal stories where people on psychiatric drugs, who didn't seem violent before being on them, killed someone while taking them. It would be interesting to know if this person was on them.
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Fail.
The claim that video games caused this is total bull.
At that age, you grow up with NES and Atari. I highly doubt you have issues separating reality from fiction when you're playing on an 8 bit graphics system in 2d.
It's not like he was born yesterday. If you know death is permanent as a kid, you don't suddenly change your mind when you grow up after playing Halo 3. What a load of garbage.
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Re: Fail.
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Re: Fail.
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Here's the part that kills me (no pun intended):
Still I agree with the gist of what you're saying. Violent video games don't cause violent people.
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Re: Here's the part that kills me (no pun intended):
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Why didn't the lawyers use this defense? It seems more plausible....except you don't swear to tell the truth on a video game ...
I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help me Master Chief.
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Re:
I LOVE that angle.
What do mean my parents are dead? They accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior and the Bible says if they do they would have everlasting life! What the hell?
Belief in Jesus = IDDQD?
If we blame video games we should also, to be fair, be blaming the Bible. Have you seen how VIOLENT that book is?
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"Your honor, I needed to free my parents from their mortal coil so they could live on forever with god. God told me this himself. He also told me that I need to be good to Bubba and Bubba will be good to me, whatever that means..."
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real reason
The real reason is the kid is a looser. What twenty year old is getting grounded. The father probably got tired of some deadbeat sitting in his chair doing nothign but playing Halo. I mean the MAN could have flipped off his Dad, get a job, get his own place and play Halo to hsi hearts content. The Man/Son probably had some odd idea that they have Halo is Jail(gitmo) or that he would get all his parents had, so he could then play the game and not need to get a job. He knew what he was dfoing. The parents were probably enablers. Look at the Dad now, saying his son regrets it. Yeah he will tell you that, so you will send him stuff and visit him since you survived.
I mean look at it this way, the kid probably would never have succeded, since all he was doign was gaming. He was tired of hearing his dad complain. He tries to kill them, succeeds with one. He will be out is 12 years, 35 years old. Still young, can come back to Dad's, only now Dad will no better that to dog his game.
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we need german law on this one
Consequently, what do you know? AP would probably be liable for crap like this.
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Why is he going to jail then?
I thought that we put people that didn't have the mental abilities to distinguish right from wrong into mental facilities? If this kid is this messed up sending him to jail is about as fair as sending someone in a wheelchair to jail for refusing to stand.
P.S. I don't think video games are the cause of any such problem, but it's disturbing to me that a judge would send a kid to jail while saying that he thinks his mental issues caused him to commit a crime.
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Re: Why is he going to jail then?
Interesting point.
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Don't be so defensive!
Nobody is blaming that the video game is the sole reason for the murder and is calling for a ban.
Let me put it this way. We all know the McD burgers are bad for health. As a free market society we cannot ban the sale of McD burgers, but we can still talk about.
Video games, like many other things, are bad when used excessively. AP is right in suggesting that parents/users should use caution.
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Re: Don't be so defensive!
#1 --
If you actually read the article you would have seen this:
I don't think anything more needs to be said about that so moving on to:
#2:
You are stating something which you believe to be true. The studies, however, do not show this whatsoever. Excessive video game usage will obviously harm your physical health (i.e. playing Halo all day instead of going out and getting exercise), but there is NO evidence whatsoever that links violent video games in any amount to real world violent behavior. Before a newspaper (or an idiot commenting on a blog) states something like this as if it were fact, they ought to make sure that it actually is a fact. In this case, it is demonstrably false as study after study has come up negative in this regard.
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Re: Don't be so defensive!
A friend of mine recently took a stick away from her 5yo son because he was so obsessed with the stick that he didn't even realize he had whacked his friend in the head with it. By your argument, it would have been perfecly understandable, if he had gotten another stick and whacked her in the head with it.
The old addage "Look before you leap" also applies to speaking: "Think before you speak".
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Not just video games
Sounds like religion to me (and provably has the same effects!)
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Re:
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Grammar
In this case, "A Ohio teen" is correct, as he is "a teen". The word Ohio is describing what kind of teen he is, and does not affect the use of "a" vs "an".
It doesn't always sound correct to the ear, because we are trained to use "an" before any words that begin with a vowel, but grammatically it is correct.
Similarly, it should be "an shiny apple", "a ugly dog", and "a old, used, unwashed, useless piece of apple".
Then again, I could be wrong, as it's happened before.
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Re: Grammar
But you'd be right if it had read "A teen in Ohio." Yes, the subject is the one to whom the article is referring, and not the adjective. It is grammatically incorrect, however, to not change the "a" to "an" when inserting an adjective beginning with a vowel; because, at that point, the adjective is ATTACHED to the subject, and, therefore, the article is referring to the adjective as well.
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Re: Grammar
You are wrong. "An" should be used instead of "a" before any word that begins with a vowel sound. This applies even to words that don't actually begin with a vowel but only sound like it.
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Call his bluff
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Re: Call his bluff
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video games
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teens, violence, fiction vs, reality
if you'd like to read a great piece of fiction that deals precisely with the problems of the teen temptation to violence and the discernment between video game fantasy and reality, check out a book called Let Slip the Dogs of Love by a guy named Eugene Kachmarsky. google the title or visit the website: www.eloquentbooks.com/LetSlipTheDogsOfLove/html. especially if you're a parent with a teen, or a teen.
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Causality
Even if there is a link between violent people and video games, why do people always assume that the game is at fault? Has nobody ever heard of causality?
There are 2 possible ways to look at such a link:
(1) Playing violent video games made the guy think that it was ok to kill.
or
(2) The guy already had violent tendencies, and playing the violent games was simply a symptom of an underlying problem.
Even though option 2 is far more likely to be true, it doesn't make for good news. With the media always writing the "version of the truth" that sells best, it's no wonder that so many people think that violent games are the problem.
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From the myths-R-us department
And listening to Rock and Roll will have you worship the devil.
And reading comic books will lead you to a life of sexual depravity and other perversity.
And video clips will make kids yearn for sex at a much younger age.
And Barney the Dino is a healthy way of raising kids.
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Re:
"Very disturbing hearing these stories pop up around the media."
I agree. Say, about as disturbing as playing a violent game? The things one sees on the news are every bit as violent as the games, and what the news lacks in full on graphics/images/interactivity is made up by the fact that it's REAL. Which is actually more disturbing?
"More and more children choose to do devastatingly violent acts upon their own parents!?"
What in the world is this based on? do you have numbers to back that up? Or is it just the sense you get from a sensationalistic media looking to invoke emotional responses to sell ads?
"violent games do make one insensitive to violence and acts of violence occur again and again amongst our youth to authority figures"
Two separate ideas. First: who says violent games MAKE one insensitive to violence? During my psych classes we looked at this issue BECAUSE there is so much debate on it. There is no definitive evidence either way, so why are you saying there is? Further, as to there is more violence by are youths against authority figures, to what time are you comparing? Because if you're comparing to 1975, no effing way. Just no way. 1950, yes. 1930, arguable. 1776, definitely not, since American colonists were largely young, particularly non-Torries. In other words, I think you're crazy-wrong.
"It is time to take a closer look to what are kids are exposed to in the media!"
No, it's time to take a closer at what parents are allowing the media to expose to their kids.
"A fast paced world that we live in should slow down at home, take a break sit down with your kid and listen, watch, and get involved if your not already."
I agree, but we need to be smart about it and not attribute values to what the media tells us is correct, nor should we base parenting policy on knee-jerk reactions to sensationalistic stories. Let your kids play the videogames or watch the movie. THEN take them fishing and actually TALK to them about the game/movie. It'd work wonders.
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Even watching a movie can make me feel wound up and in that world - jumping if there is an unexpected noise, etc, after watching a violent and scary film. We are all individuals, and personally I don't like the idea of teens who play violent games 18 hours a day. YOU might not be affected - buy you are not everybody. My son is unpleasant and irritated and if he is separated from his games, and I used to hear him muttering the most terrible things about me - he is older now and nicer now! But who knows what would happen if someone whose life revolved around that world had access to a gun. You all have your opinions - I feel that that boy could actually be a nice person underneath - many of us had angry fantasies as teens - just not the opportunity to act on them. If I was his mother, I would care deeply for him - even though he did what he did. I would know he was my little boy who would not hurt anyone if guns did not exist when he was young. For Christ sake - how many people do some children see killed with guns every day in videos and games - are they all lucky enough to be well adjusted and happy?
In this country - UK - we don't punish under 18s as adults - and I'm GLAD!
No way he would get a sentence like that - hell, even grown men who TORTURE children for months and cause their death often seem to spend less that half that time in jail - now them I would shoot! But that boy - God bless him, I am sure that is what his mother, who knew him best, would want.
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Don't blame the games!
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that sucks
i may be a bit biased though since i am a game designer, but i think that my point should still be valid.
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Violent Teens
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guiding a child
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