{"title":"A Critical Miss: Video Games, Violence, and Ineffective Legislation","authors":"Richard Dillio","doi":"10.1080/21689725.2014.950496","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the use of social scientific research and the role it played in determining the constitutionality of various video game laws that aimed to restrict the access of minors. Several major cases are examined, with particular attention paid to the courts’ responses to the type, amount, and validity of the social science research presented by various state legislatures as support for the game restrictions. These restrictions are usually centered on assertions that video game violence is harmful to children, as it can increase aggression and antisocial behavior. The paper concludes that the usage of social scientific research by legislatures to censor video games has been unpersuasive and a failure in almost every attempt. Possible causes for this failure are examined.","PeriodicalId":37756,"journal":{"name":"First Amendment Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2014-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21689725.2014.950496","citationCount":"5","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"First Amendment Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21689725.2014.950496","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 5
Abstract
This paper examines the use of social scientific research and the role it played in determining the constitutionality of various video game laws that aimed to restrict the access of minors. Several major cases are examined, with particular attention paid to the courts’ responses to the type, amount, and validity of the social science research presented by various state legislatures as support for the game restrictions. These restrictions are usually centered on assertions that video game violence is harmful to children, as it can increase aggression and antisocial behavior. The paper concludes that the usage of social scientific research by legislatures to censor video games has been unpersuasive and a failure in almost every attempt. Possible causes for this failure are examined.
期刊介绍:
First Amendment Studies publishes original scholarship on all aspects of free speech and embraces the full range of critical, historical, empirical, and descriptive methodologies. First Amendment Studies welcomes scholarship addressing areas including but not limited to: • doctrinal analysis of international and national free speech law and legislation • rhetorical analysis of cases and judicial rhetoric • theoretical and cultural issues related to free speech • the role of free speech in a wide variety of contexts (e.g., organizations, popular culture, traditional and new media).