The issue of whether violent entertainment reflects or defines society is open for debate. Politicians hope that harsher penalties for violent crimes will decrease violence in this country by acting as a deterrent. Families of victims praise initiatives to strengthen punishment for violent crime as a move toward justice. They claim that victim's rights have been subverted for too long in the interest of protecting the rights of criminals. While harsher sentences provide victims' families with a stronger sense of justice, statistics have shown that sending more people to prison does not necessarily lower the crime rate.
More people are in prison than ever before, but violent crime continues to ravage our society.
While we need to understand the various elements that can lead a person to commit an act of violence, we also need to understand that for many random, impulsive acts of violence there simply is no explanation. Individuals are ultimately responsible for their own actions, despite victim defenses for criminals which often trivialize an individual's responsibility for committing an act of violence. In a society engulfed in fear and paranoia, with a diminished sense of community and lack of respect for others, violence will remain an enormous social problem.