Chicago Faces 135% Incr in Carjackings So Legislator Seeks to Ban GTA

https://jonathanturley.org/2021/02/23/chicago-faces-135-increase-in-carjackings-so-legislator-seeks-to-ban-grand-theft-auto/

by fireeyed • 5 years ago

118 135 5 years ago

jonathanturley.org

striking• 5 years ago

This article links to https://www.foxnews.com/us/chicago-sees-spike-in-carjackings..., which links to the actual source article https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2021/2/22/22295471/grand-t....

The latter article offers slightly more detail:

Rep. Marcus Evans Jr. wants to amend a 2012 law preventing some video games from being sold to minors. Friday, he filed HB3531, which would amend that law to ban the sale to anyone of video games depicting “psychological harm,” including “motor vehicle theft with a driver or passenger present.”
Besides addressing carjacking, the bill also changes the definition of a “violent video game” to one in which players “control a character within the video game that is encouraged to perpetuate human-on-human violence in which the player kills or otherwise causes serious physical or psychological harm to another human or an animal.”

BitwiseFool2• 5 years ago

The fact that this legislator seriously proposed this, much less entertained the idea, proves we've got some seriously incompetent people running the government.

How can I possibly think Rep. Evans has sound reasoning and is a compentent policymaker for everything else Chicago has to deal with?

Alex39175• 5 years ago

The fact that this legislator seriously proposed this, much less entertained the idea, proves we've got some seriously incompetent people running the government.

Hillary Clinton also tried to make GTA illegal, which is a large part of why Trump became president.

rsj_hn2• 5 years ago

We are living in the age of moral indignation and outrage rather than intelligence and understanding. On the one hand, it does nothing to address the problem. On the other hand, that's good because it means there is more fuel for outrage in the next election, too.

mensetmanusman3• 5 years ago

They should talk to the DoD about ‘America’s Army’

nucleardog• 5 years ago

Besides addressing carjacking, the bill also changes the definition of a “violent video game” to one in which players “control a character within the video game that is encouraged to perpetuate human-on-human violence in which the player kills or otherwise causes serious physical or psychological harm to another human or an animal.”

Unless I'm totally misreading that, it sounds like GTA isn't even the tip of the iceberg. That's... a lot of games?

I mean, besides all the obvious (every FPS, arguably many RTSs, etc) I'm pretty sure this would even ban Minecraft?

d1zzy• 5 years ago

So almost any strategy game. While at it consider banning all TV, books, etc that cover such themes too /s

loceng2• 5 years ago

"Quick, make it look like we're doing something!"

MattGaiser4• 5 years ago

I have some sympathy for such people.

People demand that you do X, not understanding/forgetting that you doing X requires that dozens of others also agree with you on doing X. Decision making in a democracy is something most people would never have experienced first hand. What percentage of people have ever had to go into a room and get 29 out of 59 to stop what they are doing and listen to you? Instead, people mostly read the news to judge what you do and "having conversations" is deemed as "not doing anything."

This is the guy who decides to focus on Powerpoint presentations as that is all the boss will pay attention to.

loceng2• 5 years ago

Absolutely. Understanding and compassion is important - it's still a sign of stagnancy and incompetency in our leadership positions: the best of the best should be at the lead, and these people are not behaving like leaders - they're not behaving as if they are witnessed by their peers, by society; we need people who care what others think about them, their behaviour, the consequences of their actions - and who assume or believe that all of their actions will be accounted for; and perhaps these people needed to have a live video feed on them to help keep them in check, as part of protocol - to actually be witnessed, to create a container for integrity.

BitwiseFool2• 5 years ago

The solution is obvious, make the city walkable and ban cars. The carjacking rate would plummet.

MattGaiser4• 5 years ago

Just ban people. That one ban will eliminate all crimes except bin theft.

badmadrad• 5 years ago

This really is the logical conclusion for the ban and regulate crowd.

zthrowaway• 5 years ago

Yes and then ban people when they move on to robbing.

pii2• 5 years ago

Bad analogy. Ban private property when people move on to robbing, then it's just sharing

nickff• 5 years ago

They have problems with all sorts of violence and theft, so your solution is to ban the most notable item targeted for theft? I hope you're joking, because this proposal is just as bad as the one in the article.

scythe2• 5 years ago

Robbery is a lot easier than carjacking, so this proposal comes off as insensitive to people concerned about being targeted by criminals.

Dylan168073• 5 years ago

Being insensitive to those concerns is not necessarily wrong. The level of concern about being targeted by criminals seems to have almost no relation to the level of risk.

MiguelX4132• 5 years ago

This but unironically (car abolitionism)

MattGaiser4• 5 years ago

A more informative source:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2021/2/22/22295471/grand-t...

asimjalis• 5 years ago

GTA virtual world does not contain GTA and yet carjackings keep happening.

KDJohnBrown2• 5 years ago

Hillary Clinton along with Tipper Gore felt that the cause of societal ills in the 1990s were video games and rap. It was ridiculous and how we ended up with “explicit content” labels and absurdly bleeped out music recordings.

Clinton tried to blame the Columbine massacre on Doom much in the same way Dan White tried to excuse his assassination of Harvey Milk on Twinkies.

Around that time Tom Petty had a song censored, every time it played on MTV the word “joint” was replaced with indecipherable word-like sound.

Once the boomers have died off hopefully so will their insane need to resort to censorship instead of accepting personal and societal responsibility.

the_only_law• 5 years ago

Around that time Tom Petty had a song censored, every time it played on MTV the word “joint” was replaced with indecipherable word-like sound.

Sometimes when searching a song on YouTube, I come across that obnoxious VEVO channel and I have to wonder who the hell is handling the censorship. They’ll bleep out random words and leave like 2 curse words in the next line.

undefined13• 5 years ago

Once the boomers have died off hopefully so will their insane need to resort to censorship instead of accepting personal and societal responsibility.

that may not do the trick, considering how many in the Millennial and Gen Z cohorts embrace censorship.

KDJohnBrown2• 5 years ago

I’m glad I only have about 10 years left. I have no interest in seeing how lame things will turn out.

smcl• 5 years ago

It's a fair point, GTA V is released and suddenly 7 years later there's an increase in carjackings. Who can argue with that?

nihil75• 5 years ago

Actually, this is the aftershock of GTA 1 being released in 1997. They're finally ripe!

georgecmu• 5 years ago

Those kids have grown up.

msla2• 5 years ago

Which explains the massive table-tennis boom once all the kids raised on Pong grew up.

ttul• 5 years ago

I think there is also a strong correlation between the integer value of the year and the prevalence of carjacking in Chicago.

medium_burrito2• 5 years ago

I recall GTA having way less cops than in real life too, which definitely is what is happening in a lot of cities.

On the plus side, perhaps I can mount flamethrowers on my subaru and live out my 90s childhood fantasies if big US cities keep on going down this path.

Sebb7672• 5 years ago

I recall GTA having way less cops than in real life too, which definitely is what is happening in a lot of cities.

Are you sure about that? I saw a lot of patrolling police in the game, which would be highly unusual for all cities I lived in. Additionally, getting a wanted star makes police appear nearly immediately - while in real live I've seen times from a few minutes (urgent situations) to an hour and beyond (for minor traffic accidents). So I'd argue the police is far more present in GTA.

coding1232• 5 years ago

Well it has had a resurgence too. When I open Twitch randomly it seems like 80% of the streams are GTA V for some reason. It wasn't like that a few months ago.

k12sosse• 5 years ago

Role-play GTA is what you're seeing. The gaming industry is that stale these days.

King-Aaron• 5 years ago

It's understandable, I got GTA Online from Epic for free a few months ago and already I've stolen 134% more cars

rsj_hn2• 5 years ago

That was such a fun game. Is it worth getting on PS5?

908B64B197• 5 years ago

Tesla might be on the right track to solve the issue.

Having no spare parts available and repairs only available at select service center means they could potentially refuse service to anyone who used parts with stolen serial numbers.

That would make them worthless to steal.

As for banning a video game, if he can get the first amendment repelled, sure. Good luck!

trhway2• 5 years ago

That would make them worthless to steal.

my understanding is that significant share of [Big] car stealing business is for export to other countries (obviously not to the countries like Germany or UK :).

mensetmanusman3• 5 years ago

Tesla could follow the car anywhere

topspin• 5 years ago

That happens for high end stuff. Common cars end up in chop shops and the parts are sold to collision and repair shops, frequently under the same roof.

bananabreakfast• 5 years ago

The vast, vast majority of cases of car theft are not theft to fence the car, but rather as an untraceable means to commit further, far more profitable crimes.

MattGaiser4• 5 years ago

As much as many on HN hate the Apple ecosystem for being so closed, its security is a major selling point and it would be interesting to see if Teslas are more secure in that regard.

mhh__• 5 years ago

Is it? Apple's security comes from the amount of money they've put in to it and vertical integration not obscurity.

Besides, the FBI have demonstrated apple's security is still basically bunk to any non-casual actor so I wouldn't rely on it.

fnord77• 5 years ago

right-to-repair laws hopefully will triumph over tesla's trying to lock people out.

freeone3000• 5 years ago

It would make them worth more to steal, as the only other possible source of spare parts for a Tesla would be another Tesla.

vinay4272• 5 years ago

I believe their point was that they would refuse service to vehicles that used those parts, theoretically making a theft of a Tesla for spare parts pointless.

refuse service to anyone who used parts with stolen serial numbers.

rhino369• 5 years ago

They are mostly just stealing them to joyride / commit other crimes with. The primary purpose isn't to sell to chop shops.

devwastaken• 5 years ago

You don't need a tesla service center to service a tesla. Neither would we want one else tesla vehicles will become entirely unownable by those making less than 70-100K a year. Affordable repair is the lifeblood of lower income people. Without it work will cease.

didibus2• 5 years ago

Oh I'm sure increase in carjacking is due to video games, and not at all related to growing economic inequalities and stress which were recently amplified by Covid... /s

tenebrisalietum• 5 years ago

growing economic inequalities and stress

Statements like this don't inspire sympathy to me and probably others. I was poor too growing up, but I didn't carjack anyone. It's more complicated than "violent video games beget violence" and it's more complicated than "poverty begets violence" and it doesn't make it more OK.

sep_field• 5 years ago

It's well known that inequality is one of the primary causes of property crime. That doesn't mean that most poor people commit property crimes.

didibus2• 5 years ago

It doesn't need to inspire sympathy, it just needs to be a much more likely cause/effect explanation than video games.

Why was there an increase in carjacking in Chicago?

My guess is Covid, at least it seems a pretty good candidate to start digging deeper if there's a correlation. Less people in the streets, more parked cars, lots of people without a job having nothing to do and no good source of income.

One way to refute this would be to profile people cought carjacking. Are they rich? Do they still have a job? Are they kept busy with activities? If so, that could disprove my theory, otherwise it could reinforce it.

We could also look at if they actively and frequently play violent video games, though I'd be more likely to believe in a coincidence or a reverse relationship here, if it was the case, based on rational.

Edit: Also, you said "I was poor" past tense. So I'm not sure you'd count as a valid sample, it might be adults that carjack who knows. I also didn't say poor specifically, I said inequality and stress. Poverty can contribute to those, but there are other factors to inequality and stress, like lack of opportunity, neighborhood, access to good schools, troubled household, etc.

winter_blue• 5 years ago

Here's the bill: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=3531&... ("Bill Status of HB3531 102nd General Assembly")

The synopsis of the bill (provided at the link above):

Amends the Violent Video Games Law in the Criminal Code of 2012. Changes provisions that restricts the sale or rental of violent video games to minors to prohibit the sale of all violent video games. Modifies the definition of "violent video game" to mean a video game that allows a user or player to control a character within the video game that is encouraged to perpetuate human-on-human violence in which the player kills or otherwise causes serious physical or psychological harm to another human or an animal. Modifies the definition of "serious physical harm" to include psychological harm and child abuse, sexual abuse, animal abuse, domestic violence, violence against women, or motor vehicle theft with a driver or passenger present inside the vehicle when the theft begins. Makes conforming changes, including repealing a Section concerning the labeling of violent video games by video game retailers.

I am gonna take a atypical/non-standard opinion (for HN) on this -- I wholeheartedly support this proposed bill.

We already have First Amendment restrictions when it comes to the depiction of a certain type of crime (i.e. a certain type of pornography). If that 1st Am. exemption is legal and permissible, then it should constitutional for that exemption to cover other crimes as well.

I see no reason why the depiction of the commission of other types of crime should be legal, permissible, and even popular (as shown by how many buy games like these). You can still make a lot of interesting video games that don't involve gratuitous user-directed violence / other crime.

Heck, I think the whole video game scene will become a lot more interesting and creative once a ban like this is put into law.

One last note: I don't think this bill would lead any reduction in real-world crime. I know that was the reason this bill was introduced, but I find that kind of connection to be spurious at best. I think a real reason we should ban depictions of crimes and violence (often where the player is the one perpetrating it), is that it simply is distasteful, and if I may say so--a tad bit morally not-good.

outworlder3• 5 years ago

There aren't many games that do not promote physical harm to imaginary entities. Even Minecraft does this, and that's a healthy game where the main focus is not even on killing, it's more on the building side.

Even something like Factorio involves violence against "animals" (whatever those aliens are).

Mario would be banned.

This leaves Tetris I guess and puzzle games in general. Frogger is also too violent as it involves harm to an animal by motor vehicles. Pacman involves violence.

Should movies be banned too? There's a lot of gratuitous violence in them.

Much like movies, most games are about some sort of conflict. Sometimes this conflict is violent, sometimes it isn't.

Also how does leaving people with no outlets to blow off steam helps them behave in real life?

The 'video game scene' is extremely creative already, if you just move away from mainstream publishers.

krapp• 5 years ago

Even chess is simulated combat.

gareim• 5 years ago

I think a real reason we should ban depictions of crimes and violence (often where the player is the one perpetrating it), is that it simply is distasteful

I find this to be incredibly distasteful, but I would not advocate for speaking this aloud to be banned. You, on the other hand, might be inclined to ban your own opinions, if sufficient numbers agree with me?

LocalH2• 5 years ago

I find it distasteful that you would basically return to the Hays Code.

sporkologist• 5 years ago

This legislator needs to know that the Beatles are using backwards masking on their records and this is causing the youth to be rebellious

scythe2• 5 years ago

The idea is that the government can regulate what you are enjoying and modify your desires and actions. It is the ultimate expression of paternalistic governance theory.

As usual, Turley's hyperbole can be seen from the moon. Laws against the sale of heroin primarily prevent people from enjoying heroin so they will not desire heroin. Laws against child pornography prevent people from enjoying pedophilia so they will not harm children. Laws against street racing prevent the enjoyment of speeding so people will drive more safely. Laws against hate crimes control certain self-reinforcing criminal dynamics. The last three do refer to a real harm-to-others, but the motivational intent of the law is obvious.

Wikipedia states: "Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and social sciences". Indeed the legal concept of punishment still maps well onto the behavioral psych definition of punishment, and the latter is routinely used as a model to critique and inform the former.

That's not to say I support this video game ban, nor even am I saying I don't think it's stupid (it is). But all of this "the government is trying to control your thoughts!" chicanery is just that. Everything is trying to control your thoughts.

dasil003• 5 years ago

Eliminating GTA will have about as much impact on carjacking as eliminating Call of Duty will reduce world wars or banning Minecraft will decrease structure-destroying “mobs.”

This is epic-level punnery.

jopsen2• 5 years ago

We all know minecraft was secretly bankrolled by the coal lobby </joke>

minikites• 5 years ago

I'm sure lots of regular people agree. The thing about a representative democracy is sometimes you get a representative democracy.

antattack• 5 years ago

From direct experience working with children I am certain that video games shape how children behave as an individual or in a group.

For example, I see kids playing real life re-enactments of Roblox or Minecraft when they are together. Or create their own games with similar rules, goals or consequences.

asdff• 5 years ago

A car is so enormous, I don't understand how car theft even happens. Surely it can't be hard to go through the finite number of facilities in a city capable of chopping up a car and find some evidence.

medium_burrito2• 5 years ago

Carmen San Diego was able to steal the Statue of Liberty...

...but seriously, how many places do you think in a city you can store a car? How do you recognize said stolen car? How long would it take to verify the vin numbers? It sounds like something you'd need Hercules or Sherlock Holmes for.

kart23• 5 years ago

move it through mexico. Nobody really checks going southbound.

Jakobeha• 5 years ago

I mean, legislators have seeked to ban literally water (see https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-mar-13-me-water...)

Sebb7672• 5 years ago

What such bills accomplish is not crime reduction but political protection. It gives the appearance of action from legislators who do not want to take more decisive or direct action. It is easier to blame a video game than state or city enforcement policies.

Setting the absurdity of the situation aside, how can limiting the personal freedom of your citizens be the "safe choice" compared to criticizing or changing policies? And be considered a "less decisive action"? Especially in the USA, one of the countries which arguably values personal freedom the most. This is really not a good direction.

jopsen2• 5 years ago

From the article: > Carjacking is increasing because there is insufficient deterrent.

[citation needed]

I'll buy that increasing the risk of getting caught might deter crime. But just like bike theft, you can't keep an eye on all parked cars, or even a small fraction of them.

And even when you catch someone stealing tires off a car, how hard a punishment can you really give -- hopefully not much.

Maybe we should also why some is stealing tires? Or jacking cars.

scrose• 5 years ago

Just recently during the Robinhood hearings there was another Rep that was asking why Robinhood wasn’t moderating Reddit and other big social media sites. Speaking with such conviction that you’d think it was the smartest idea ever, if you knew absolutely nothing about the internet. Some of these people are out of touch.

mensetmanusman3• 5 years ago

Just reduce salaries of legislators and use the savings to purchase Tile’s to put on every citizen’s car. Then they can find it when it gets stolen.

smktoon• 5 years ago

I play hitman and my assassinations have increased, tried gta v and now i have a car lot.

mancerayder2• 5 years ago

Politicians can be depressing.

Such demagoguery. Material forces, such as poverty, and availability of guns, play second fiddle to video games and even language in the 2020's. One can't not talk about connections between these material forces and crime.

I know criminal justice reform is an extremely contentious topic, both from a data standpoint and from a moral standpoint, but one can't just not talk about connections between changes in the law and crime.

I don't live in Chicago, but in my city the police are saying that due to the decriminalizations of 'quality of life' crimes, and the elimination of cash bail for almost anything that isn't extremely violent, they are demoralized as they arrest someone and they either don't get charged, get released immediately, or get a desk appearance ticket. When we ask them why violent crimes have skyrocketed, they tell us, our hands are tied. Maybe the cops are lying, maybe not, but it's at least on the table as discussion topic.

... or we can ban all violent video games. Hey, here's an idea, let's ban all porn, that should solve all the sexual assault issues too. Let's ban alcohol and that should reduce violence, and ban smoking and that'll reduce lung cancer. It's so simple when the demagogues propose a solution.

ErikVandeWater• 5 years ago

Chicago is one of the most difficult places in the USA to legally purchase a firearm. One of the reasons they have so many carjackings.

mancerayder2• 5 years ago

I doubt that correlation. NYC has the strictest gun laws and lower crime than Chicago.

genericone4• 5 years ago

This politician's effort is probably dead in the water, US Supreme court ruled in 2011 against something similar: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/08-1448.pdf

threevox• 5 years ago

Chicagoan here - if they ban GTA I'll buy 10 more copies in addition to the one I already have just to get the Streisand effect officially going

Crosseye_Jack• 5 years ago

Makes you wonder if Rockstar are behind it all along to cram a few extra sales out of a 7 year old title :-P

cannabis_sam• 5 years ago

This should be considered criminally negligent politicking...

Chicago Faces 135% Incr in Carjackings So Legislator Seeks to Ban GTA

Related Stories