In many people's living rooms sits an outlet for violence that often goes unnoticed. It is the television. The children who view it are often pulled in to its realistic world of violent scenes with sometimes devastating results. Today, over three thousand studies show violence on TV affects not only childhood aggression but also adulthood violence. (Szaflik)

Since television was introduced in 1952, it has become so much a part of our existence that many people cannot imagine life without it. Americans love TV and love to watch a great deal of it, yet their ple

For nearly a decade, judges and police officials have been saying that never before have they seen rapists and murderers who are so young.

Sigmund Freud and Aristotle, who suggested, "drama was effective and desirable because of 'catharsis'", have mainly studied the catharsis theory. This states while viewing a show on television the audience becomes psychologically involved with the story. When the anger, excitement, or aggression climaxes, the audiences releases pressure within their brain, known as "catharsis." Many children will in turn repeat what they have just witnessed in order to feel that pleasurable release again. (Ledingham) For example, in Oregon, a five-year-old boy watched his favorite cartoon, "Beavis and Butt-head" and saw the characters pull one of their famous arson stunts. The boy then set his house ablaze and his younger sister was killed.

"When you show a young kid somebody being run over and they pop back up without harm, that's a problem," says Ed Donnerstein, communications and psychology professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. (Szaflik) Television reduces the value of life. In most cartoons if a cartoon character is killed, the other cartoon characters usually don't care, or may even laugh. Television makes violence and even death seem funny and unreal. Children who view shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated, or left unpunished are more likely to imitate what they see. Studies also show that when an adult is present the children are more likely to remember the events they have just witnessed. (Post)

Violence in America is influenced by the media due to the fact that it arouses, teaches, desensitizes, and psychologically involves the viewer.

No absolute conclusion can be reached but the facts are undeniable and the issues are important, not only because television violence is a reality and aggression is a fact of life, but because the problem is only going to get worse. In the wake of 16 school shootings this is a subject now heavily debated between Hollywood, the government, and the viewing public. Scientists, pediatricians, and child researchers in many countries have done studies over the last thirty years and almost all of them have concluded that media has a big effect on the aggression now present in Americas youth. Television has an unlimited

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