Think tank pins Apple's iPod as possible culprit for increase in violent crime

We know what you're thinking, and trust us, we're right there with you. Nevertheless, The Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank, has reportedly come to the conclusion that the reason US violent crime rose in 2005 and 2006 after declining every year since 1991 is because more iPods were on the streets. You heard right -- these researchers are suggesting that the "iCrime wave" occurred primarily due to the popularity of Apple's darling and the relatively high value of possessing one. Granted, the iPod has been the focal point of quite a few muggings in the past, but blaming a fruit-flavored PMP for a nation's sudden urge to take up larceny? Pfft.

[Jesse S @ Mar 5th 2008 1:01PM]

Man, I can't wait for GTAIV.

[bob sakamano @ Mar 5th 2008 2:11PM]

Engadget GTA!

http://www.bobsakamano.com/photos/uncategorized/2008
/03/05/engadget_2.png

[bob sakamano @ Mar 5th 2008 2:13PM]

it didnt work maybe this one will

http://www.bobsakamano.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/05/engadget_2.png

[Mobius_1 @ Mar 6th 2008 4:50AM]

I really love Engadget pictures nowadays, hilarious!

[Brooks @ Mar 5th 2008 1:03PM]

Let's not blame the parents. No, that would be too easy!

Bad parenting? Pfft. Thugs want iPods!

[rock99rock @ Mar 5th 2008 2:13PM]

Well, if they blamed the zune, we'd know they were really out of whack!

[rock99rock @ Mar 5th 2008 2:13PM]

Well, if they blamed the zune, we'd know they were really out of whack!

[Brendan Sheehan @ Mar 5th 2008 3:51PM]

Was funnier the first time. They are never getting mine: http://hideapod.com/

[Onetruebill @ Mar 5th 2008 3:57PM]

OK, as a rule I hate everything...
But the hide-a-pod thing is VERY funny.

[engadgetier @ Mar 5th 2008 6:30PM]

LOL, that hide-a-pod just really made my day! XD

[Anthony @ Mar 5th 2008 1:04PM]

According to Jack Thompson, none of this would have happened if Apple hadn't included a Breakout-style game on their iPods.

[Reid @ Mar 5th 2008 1:04PM]

What is the assumption here? That future victims just had $400 sitting under the mattress, waiting for the iPod to come out, so that they could then buy one and be robbed? It seems to me like the kind of person who would walk around with a $400 PMP in their pocket, would be walking around with just as many expensive toys if the PMP had never been invented.

About as far as you could extend the blame is by saying that white earphones are a dead giveaway, but.. that's pretty weak.

[thesb @ Mar 5th 2008 1:13PM]

Hrm, Why steal someones iPod when you could steal their money and buy one in the color that matches your phat new Reeboks... Wow, thieves are stupid.

[ugg.tryptophan @ Mar 5th 2008 1:54PM]

"they do say consumers should demand technologies that would render stolen gadgets useless.

Apple—which has explored anti-theft locks in patent filings—had no comment." This could worst than DRM "Hey listen to this new track on my ipod (ipod disables self not recognizing its owners moist, soft touch)...aw crap its bricked"

[ugg.tryptophan @ Mar 6th 2008 3:27AM]

edit:"could be"

[Reid @ Mar 5th 2008 2:14PM]

As a consumer, I demand throwing thieves in prison, not arbitrary limits on how to use the device I paid money for :)

[Jack @ Mar 5th 2008 1:05PM]

Pfft indeed !

[BuddyBoy @ Mar 5th 2008 1:07PM]

I'm sorry officer, iPod made me do it!

[Jason @ Mar 5th 2008 1:11PM]

Seems to me The Urban Institute's think tank is empty.

[fred @ Mar 5th 2008 1:26PM]

I hope these guys were are not seen as a reputable source by any member of government.

[atrain @ Mar 5th 2008 1:13PM]

I actually agree with them. They are several hundred dollar devices that are small, easy to hide, and very easy to spot someone using.

Before iPods, how else would you know somebody had something valuable on them? Sure, you can grab a laptop, but its bigger and more obvious. iPods could originally be recognized by the headphones, but now almost everybody uses a pmp rather than a cd player/radio. That means that anybody with headphones probably has something valuable + small on them.

I personally can see a correlation here.

[caniac_01 @ Mar 5th 2008 1:48PM]

You just contradicted yourself.

"easy to hide, and very easy to spot someone using."

If they're so easy to hide, then you shouldn't be able to "spot someone using it" now should you?

I think that it is very pitiful that anyone would try and pin this on the popularity of Apple iPods. Like someone else already said, if everyone wasn't walking around with PMP's, they'd be walking around with some other expensive toy.

So, while we're blaming the influx of crime on technology, why not blame the cell phone!! It's equally small.. so I suppose that, now that the iPhone's out, crime rates will become even worse right?.. BS. Thats just rediculous. Be true Americans, blame it on Bush or something?

[atrain @ Mar 5th 2008 1:59PM]

If your using a pmp, is easy to spot.
If you just stole an ipod, and stuck it in your pocket, its not easy to spot.
Not a contradiction. Also, I'm saying its pmp's in general. I agree that their blaming apple specifically.

Problem with "other expensive toys" is: if its not a pmp, its usually something more interactive. (sure many people have psp's, but you don't see huge masses of people walking around gaming). You use pmps while doing other things. (walking, reading, etc.) unlike most other toys.

[Onetruebill @ Mar 5th 2008 4:02PM]

It is a lot like my 32 caliber pistol.
Very easy to hide, but it is pretty easy to spot me when I am using it.

[Ryan Trevisol @ Mar 5th 2008 1:14PM]

What else can we blame on apple? Nuclear proliferation?

[Somatic @ Mar 5th 2008 3:39PM]

Not quite nuclear proliferation, but Apple's clearly setting a precedent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5jEYbWLl60

[crow610 @ Mar 5th 2008 1:17PM]

The thugs want the safety on their guns to say {SLIDE TO FIRE}

[CosterMonger @ Mar 5th 2008 1:19PM]

that's why I walk around with a ZEN stone :)

seriously though, WTF?

[CosterMonger @ Mar 5th 2008 1:27PM]

what you can't blame economic disparity?

kids need $#!% to do to to keep them from doing $#!%, we need youth centers that show kids positive role models, teach valuable work skills and proper ethics.

no one in our so called first world countries should be forced to live in poverty while working 14-hour days

[Josh L @ Mar 5th 2008 2:14PM]

And I guess you think tax dollars should be paying for these? We already have tax-sponsored daycares, they're called public schools.

Also, speaking of public schools, I'd be interested to see how many of those impoverished people who are working 14-hour days you are speaking of have high school diplomas. Entitlement spending should be limited to those adults that have high school diplomas (or equivalent); I already invested my tax dollars in you and if you can't even get a free diploma, you've just proven that you're a bad investment and no further money should be wasted on you.

[CosterMonger @ Mar 5th 2008 2:35PM]

@Josh L
so tax dollars spent on PMCs is preferable, WAR is a good investment right, banks always make money off of war.
so would you prefer just to get rid of the undesirables, since you take the fascist stance.

[m @ Mar 5th 2008 7:34PM]

@Josh L: Your comment represents nothing more than thinly veiled racism. "Daycare"? Public schools exist for the education of children and future citizens, to the subsequent benefit of the public at large--which, like it or not, includes you. Or do you also consider the paved road leading to your house-- not to mention the police and fire departments that protect that PRIVATE investment-- an entitlement program? White flight and the subsequent refusal of suburbanites to subsidize urban (read "black") schools is at the heart of the problem. Tired of paying taxes? As people like you love to say, "America: love it or leave it."

[John @ Mar 5th 2008 8:41PM]

m,

Try going to Maryland, where money is distributed based on how poorly schools do. That is, funding is "rewarded" to poorly-performing schools and subsequently taken away from schools that perform well. What you'll find is a bunch of schools with top-of-the-line equipment and faculty with high drop-out rates while the schools with high graduation rates and standardized test performance have schools that are literally falling apart.

At a certain point, it stops being about the money and becomes the responsibility of the parents and the individual. Studies like this one by the "Urban Institute" (in DC, with a huge black population) only serve to strengthen the self-fulfilling prophecies and learned helplessness of blacks. Instead of saying "the individual is responsible for crime," the Urban Institute says, "the iPod is responsible for crime." Now criminals (black or white) will say to themselves, "I wouldn't be doing this if iPods weren't so valuable," and attempt to rationalize the crime to the point of where it doesn't seem like a crime anymore, only a balancing of the unjust scales in our economy.

P.S., if you think my comment is racist, please research the situation further.

[m @ Mar 5th 2008 10:11PM]

Unlike Josh's, your comment is not racist. And, having worked in public education, I am well aware of the problems. I don't think we can fully blame the parents, however, when they are products of the same broken system, one that has for generations placed so little value on its students. The kids deserve top-notch equipment and facilities, and I'm glad MD provides that. Paying their teachers what they deserve would be the next step--computers in the classroom do nothing by themselves. And we won't have the best people going into education until they can make a decent living at it. Those useless tests also have to go--education is about learning how to think, not mastering standardized test taking skills.

[m @ Mar 5th 2008 10:42PM]

John, I would like to add that you didn't address my complaint with Josh: education is not an entitlement program. It is an investment in the competitiveness and prosperity of our economy, and the preparation of our citizens for full participation in what is (officially at least) still a democratic nation. Why should ANY of our schools be either low-performing, or falling apart? Is it a contest, in which only some schools can win? Do bad students make their schools perform poorly?
Anybody who thinks race has nothing to do with the formation of public policy is as selfish as they are deluded.

[CosterMonger @ Mar 6th 2008 10:31AM]

http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032007/pov/new01_000.htm
http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/pub/wkyeng_2q96.htm

[peshue @ Mar 5th 2008 1:23PM]

Well I can agree that walking around with up to $400 in your pocket and a white beacon to it hang on your head would make you a target for sure. Obviously it's not all Apple though, cell phones and other pmps are just as good of targets.

[fred @ Mar 5th 2008 1:29PM]

"Obviously it's not all Apple though, cell phones and other pmps are just as good of targets."

"Think tank pins PMPs as possible culprit for increase in violent crime" isnt post worthy. Gotta Apple up that headline to pass muster.

[shawn.zenz @ Mar 5th 2008 1:49PM]

first thing i did when i got my ipod touch, was get black corded headphones

[livedead13 @ Mar 5th 2008 1:23PM]

steeling someones ipod may be the reasoning behind a violent crime, but it's the violent criminals who are responsible for their crimes.

[Josef @ Mar 5th 2008 1:26PM]

Any time I talk to an iPod fan, I want to punch him in the face. Does that count?

[ZeroCorpse @ Mar 5th 2008 1:40PM]

Why yes, it does. It shows that these kinds of crimes are usually committed by psychotic, fanboyish idiots who take someone's choice of PMP as a personal insult.

I'd say that qualifies as a phenomenon unto itself.

[Josef @ Mar 5th 2008 1:42PM]

Hmm, I bet your an iPod fan. Come here a minute.

[BillGates @ Mar 5th 2008 2:19PM]

Why don't you go ahead and blow Gates and leave the iPod owners alone?

[Josef @ Mar 5th 2008 2:50PM]

BillGates: "Why don't you go ahead and blow Gates and leave the iPod owners alone?"


Uh, is that a come-on?

[Raheem @ Mar 5th 2008 1:28PM]

Guns don't kill people: Nanos do?

[Correlation != Causation @ Mar 5th 2008 1:29PM]

http://generallordisimo.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/global-warming.jpg

[Jeff @ Mar 5th 2008 1:49PM]

i'm not sure why, but it irritates me that you use your name as the title of your comment.

...but i like the graph.

[pundit @ Mar 5th 2008 3:51PM]

Nice. Pastafarianism FTW!

[majortom @ Mar 5th 2008 1:29PM]

wait, does that mean that I can bring my boom box back onto the stoop? Cool.....
now if I just had some cardboard....