Detroit's plan to cut crime? Crack down on violent videogames.
Games are a "big indicator of crime," says Kym Worthy, prosecuting attorney for Wayne County, which encompasses Detroit -- which a recent Congressional Quarterly study called America's "most dangerous city."
"No one can convince me that there isn't a link between some of the gory, gritty, horrendous crime that we've been seeing in the past few years, particularly in the 18-25 year old group, [and]
these games," she told Wired News.
This week, Worthy released a list of ten games she thinks parents should avoid buying for their children this holiday season. It includes games such as Grand Theft Auto and Scarface.
Worthy says that she has seen "copycat crimes" in Detroit that "mimic" videogames.
"I'm telling you, things are getting much more gory, much more horrific...I'm not saying it's the only link, I'm not saying that it's a direct link, but it's there," she says.
Worthy puts out her list every year to help warn parents about the type of games their children might be playing. All of the games on the list are M-rated, and therefore not actually intended for children, but Worthy brushes such arguments aside.
"That means nothing to me really, because we have kids playing these games who are under the age of being mature," she says.
Worthy writes off any arguments that violent games are a way to act out aggression in a safe environment. These, she says, are "silly" arguments made to justify a "billion-dollar industry based on the most violent of scenarios."
"Why can't they just go play football?" she asks. "I dont understand why anyone would want to be a part of glorifying violence."
The use of the word "game" to describe something like Manhunt, she says, is "very disturbing."
"A game to me is Candyland,
Monopoly, the games we used to play as a child. Scrabble. These are games."
To compile the list, Worthy had Detroit-based "community research group" Hood Research poll members of the Detroit community about the violent games they played and wanted.
Other games on Worthy's list include 50 Cent Bulletproof, God of War, and 300.
It also, amusingly, features long-forgotten titles like Killer 7, which no parent was ever in danger of buying their child this holiday.
While Worthy says that she is aware that there are many newer, more popular titles that are not on the list, a gag order on a case with which she is currently involved prevents her from mentioning those games, she says.
Although her list is numbered, it is not meant to be perceived as a ranking of any kind. But Worthy did say that *Grand Theft Auto *belongs at the top of the list because of its glorification of "carjacking" and other violent crimes.
Worthy says she finds the ability to kill a prostitute after engaging her services in GTA particularly abhorrent. "It rewards you, give you points for mistreating the woman after you've had your way with her," she says.
As passionate about she is about the link she is certain exists between violent games and real-world crime, Worthy says she limits her efforts to underage players.
"I can't monitor, nor would I want to, what adults are doing," she says.
