Senate OKs Research on Violent Games
A Senate panel has opened the doors to possible government action over violent video games by approving a study on the matter Wednesday.
Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) persuaded the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to recommend such an action by approving the Children and Media Research Advancement Act. While the bill itself does not necessarily restrict violent video games, it would look into doing so as part of a larger study.
Laws that have attempted to restrict violent game sales have been repeatedly ruled unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds in several states. Each time, judges also cited as part of their decision little evidence that violent games were detrimental to children.
While this proposal would not answer the questions of the First Amendment rights of both the game makers and those who play them, it appears to aim to back up the laws on scientific grounds.
The bill includes sponsors from the other side of the aisle, including Republicans Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Sam Brownback of Kansas, as well as Democrat Evan Bayh of Indiana.
"As policymakers - and as parents - we have a responsibility to examine the effects of media on our children, a responsibility this legislation can better enable us to fulfill," Lieberman said following the legislation's approval. "No one is looking out, in a systematic way, for cumulative impact of today's newer electronic media on our children."
Lieberman's bill counts endorsements from several child advocacy organizations, including the Children's Digital Media Center, the Center for Media and Child Health at Harvard University Medical School, Children Now, the American Psychological Association, Common Sense Media and the Parents Television Council.
The bill was first introduced in May of 2004, and calls for a research program to be developed within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which would work in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Over a six-year period, the CDC would be permitted to issue grants to study the effects of violent video games.
The legislation would also cover research on violence in other media, including movies, television, the Internet, and on cellular phones.
Among the laws opponents are the American Civil Liberties Union, which says that free speech may be in danger if some potential harm is discovered as a part of these studies.
Gamers have also negatively responded to attempts to regulate the industry, saying it is the responsibility of parents -- not the industry or the retailer -- to monitor their children's gaming purchases.