Mysteries encourage thinking - problem solving - rather than passive reading. Right always triumphs over Wrong. An exception might be the "horror" books which are sometimes lumped with mysteries.

If someone is already criminally inclined, a mystery might give them ideas. I read of safecrackers who worked behind a painted scene curtain which depicted an empty room, an idea they got from fiction. And repeated exposure to graphic violence can harden one, I believe. But most mysteries present a moral too, as the bad guy gets comeuppance.

If you an idoit.. Yes!

Sure, mysteries do give me ideas on how to kill people. I just never did it. Why? 1. Never had a reason to. 2. I know the consequences. A prison sentence doesn't fit in my life plan. Killers are already criminally inclined. You shouldn't deprive the 'normal' people of mysteries because of that. People with morals will know it's just fiction and not go on a killing spree.

It could be some criminals are inspired by mystery books/films/etc. Removing them, doesn't solve a thing.

They will be inspired by something else. BTW statistics from an earlier post where correct. Most murders happen in a spur of the moment....

No, i definitely do not think mystery novels promote crime in any way. I myself have been reading them for years and i know many people who have been reading them for a long time and we all r quite normal people. Crimes r commited by psychopaths and psychopaths have not been made that way, they were born that way. Psychopaths r human predetors without higher feelings and they just cannot b changed. I also dont believe at all that violent scenes on TV or violent movies can contribute to icrease crime rates in any way. I consider such views as total nonsense.

I'm 10 and I like to read mysteries with murder and robbery.I AM NOT VIOLENT!

OMG i luv reading mysterys!! I dont think they encourage violence...

You know I never did hear of murder or robbery that involved the person breaking a window to make it LOOK like they escaped out that way, or used piano wire to lock doors...

Most Criminals are not smart, just lucky sometimes...So obviously they haven't been reading mystery novels..

Hey if a criminal was really clever, and DID get the idea from a book, they'd #1 get away with it and then #2 never tell you. So we truly do not know if it happens; whether the actual "cause" is reading them or not, that's another topic entirely. Promoting literature and literacy of ANY kind most likely doesn't promote crime! If anything, will just give criminals better spelling. ha ha ha

heck i wouldn't be able to stand all these goody tooshoo books when everyone has a perfect life and nothing goes on thats exciting. I need excitement and sometimes mysteries and crimes help your education sometimes. They help you think and use your imagination and lately it seems that's what people want us to do. If people want to go out there and use the author's ideas, if they read through the book to the end, they know the consequences of their actions. If they are going to take away crime and mystery books cause they promote violence, they haven't seen what has been going on tv then.

Good question if mysteries cuase people to be criminals, I wonder what books Dick Cheney and George W. Bush have read.