by Esther Animalu, contributing reporter
Numerous teens are deliberately punching unsuspecting people, essentially trying to knock them out cold. The knockout game has become the latest craze among adolescents, due to the growing numbers of victimization within this game. As a result of this epidemic, it’s sparking various concerns among parents as well as local communities.
According to CBS News, “The so-called “knockout game” involves assaulting people without warning, and it is claiming lives. The victims of the brutal game are chosen at random. Defenseless and unsuspecting people are attacked by groups of teens who have one goal in mind: to knock the victim out with one punch… In Pittsburgh, a teacher was punched so hard he collapsed head first into the concrete curb. A man in Brooklyn was also knocked unconscious. And even women are being attacked.”
People who are alone, and unaware are usually targeted within the knockout challenge. There are no patterns or trends between the common victims. In most cases, people are randomly chosen by the perpetrator. A surge of this challenge has been on the rise.
As stated by the New York Daily News, “A New Jersey dirtbag nearly two months after he brutally attacked an elderly man as part of a jarring “knockout game” caught on video, authorities said… The brute then punches the man in the face, knocking him to the ground — as two cars slowly pass by on the quiet road.”
As numerous attacks are constantly being recorded on camera, the incidents of the knockout game are slowly coming to light. Which in turn, causes more social media attention, popularity and growing adrenaline between various teens.
“I believe that it is important to spread awareness on the knockout game because it’s dangerous. People need to be more cautious and aware of their surroundings,” sophomore Emely Ferreira said.
As mentioned in CBS News, “Jeffrey Butts, who specializes in youth criminal justice at John Jay College, said, “We know from brain studies that the part of your brain that gets fired up through excitement and thrill-seeking actually develops more quickly and fires up more quickly than the other part of your brain, which comes along a few years later and is about judgment and discretion…” “The victims are someone who the young people consider to be an ‘other,’ Butts explained. “That could be a racial difference, it could be a religious difference, it could be an age difference, it just could be a class difference.”
Ultimately, parents and local faculty members should advise and educated teens on the dangers of participating in the knockout game. Its prevalent engagement is not only affecting the youths as a whole, but it’s impacting communities across the nation.
