Proof that Internet porn prevents rape.
at least so says University of Rochester economics professor Steven E Landsburg (who has a regular column in slate). i'd love to see the study he's no doubt discussing, but this is, i'd wager, enough to start a row.
The bottom line on these experiments is, "More Net access, less rape." A 10 percent increase in Net access yields about a 7.3 percent decrease in reported rapes. States that adopted the Internet quickly saw the biggest declines. And, according to Clemson professor Todd Kendall, the effects remain even after you control for all of the obvious confounding variables, such as alcohol consumption, police presence, poverty and unemployment rates, population density, and so forth.
the study in question is here
shortened the link
also, apparently violent movies reduce violent crime.
Next, violence. What happens when a particularly violent movie is released? Answer: Violent crime rates fall. Instantly. Here again, we have a lot of natural experiments: The number of violent movie releases changes a lot from week to week. One weekend, 12 million people watch Hannibal, and another weekend, 12 million watch Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
University of California professors Gordon Dahl and Stefano DellaVigna compared what happens on those weekends. The bottom line: More violence on the screen means less violence in the streets. Probably that's because violent criminals prefer violent movies, and as long as they're at the movies, they're not out causing mischief. They'd rather see Hannibal than rob you, but they'd rather rob you than sit through Wallace & Gromit.
the study is here
http://elsa.berkeley.edu/...llavi/wp/moviescrime06-07-31.pdf
i'd like this to be an academic discussion, but i find that highly improbable.
i'd say coffee house, but i thought i'd leave it to someone else to decide.
Edited by brennakimi, : No reason given.
Edited by AdminJar, : No reason given.
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