Do people copy things they see through the media?

A teenager whose apparent obsession with a violent video game led him to brutally batter a younger friend to death has been detained for life today.

Warren Leblanc lured 14-year-old Stefan Pakeerah to a Leicester park armed with a knife and claw hammer before carrying out the horrific attack in February.

The 17-year-old, who was ordered to serve a minimum of 13 years behind bars by a judge at Leicester Crown Court, claimed he planned to rob the younger boy to repay a £75 debt.

But his victim's parents blamed the violent computer game Manhunt, in which players earn points for stealth killings, for the vicious and prolonged attack on their son.

The court heard that despite publicity surrounding the case which linked the murder to Leblanc's obsession with computer games, this had not formed any part of the case

Roderick Price QC, defending, said the teenager had been motivated by fear of a gang to whom he owed a small amount of money.

He said: "The reason he killed Stefan is rooted not in video games but in fear - in desperation born of fear.”

Personally I would not blame this crime on ‘Manhunt’, but rather on the individual and his problems with crime and gangs in the first place. If I had to apply a theory, even though personally I do not agree with this, is that the individual could have been following the hypodermic needle model.

I believe that there has also been this thought that the media sends out a message to copy these acts of violence. And I predict that this idea will only ever grow in the future due to the increasing rate at which technology makes us feel that a media experience, is in fact real.