[Japo]

By the way and off topic, I read the boy was 10 years old, and his origins were Guatemalan but it's a disgrace whatever the details.

Anyway it seems that showcasing something makes it attractive to be emulated, and not only for kids. Of course most times one's got to have the intention in the first place, but sometimes it's the TV which pushes you to action. For example, a melancholic person hears about a particular way of comitting suicide, and for some reason he does it as well. Or some moron dreams about going into a killing spree but restrains himself, and then he hears about another moron who did it and in his mind it's now somewhat socially endorsed ("I won't be the only weirdo having done it"), and he does it following the same patterns. Although there were dozens of hangings in Western movies, but I guess it can be perceived differently when one knows it's for real, and besides old movies didn't use to show gruesome details, the camera looked another way and it was implied.

But I guess you can't be censoring TV for that, adults are adults and their behaviour is their responsibility, and as for kids they should be carefully watched by their parents. Nowadays kids watch all sorts of things and most likely playing a FPS won't do them much harm, but then watching a single execution may have a very deep impact.