Madam, - Terry Gillespie (September 20th) expresses concern over the social effects of televised violence.
FBI Uniform Crime Reports demonstrate that the homicide rate in the US doubled from the mid 1960s to the late 1970s, rising to its highest figure of 10.2 homicides per 100,000 population in 1980. In 1991 the number of homicides peaked again (9.8 per 100,000), declined sharply, and has been relatively stable since. The US homicide rate today is roughly equivalent to what it was in the mid-1960s.
The FBI Supplementary Homicide Reports from 1976 to 2002 indicate that African-Americans are more than six times likely to be victims of and seven times more likely to commit homicide than Caucasians in the US. One-third of murder victims and almost half the offenders are under the age of 25.
If exposure to television violence is as damaging as some people suggest, why is there no correlation between the number of TV sets sold in the US and the homicide rates in that country over the past 40 years? As people grow older they will have accumulated more hours of viewing television violence, so why are most homicides in the US committed by the under-25s as opposed to the middle-aged?
The answer to these questions can only be that TV violence has a relatively insignificant effect on society. The violence, murder and suicides to which Mr. Gillespie draws our attention to are overwhelming the result of social exclusion, poverty, drugs, and social pressures.
Let us blame ourselves for that, rather the box in the corner. - Yours, etc,
JAMES FRYAR, Albert College Park, Glasnevin, Dublin 9.