May 6th, 2002 (12:00am) - A California congressman wants to make it a federal crime to rent or sell video games showing violence, prostitution and drug use to anyone under the age of 17 without parental consent.
But representatives of the video game industry and a leading retailer called the bill unnecessary and questioned its legal standing under the U.S. Constitution’s free speech provisions.
Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), who represents a district in southern California’s "Inland Empire" region, introduced the bill last Thursday. Co-signed by 21 members of the House of Representatives, the bill covers eight kinds of explicit in-game depictions, including scenes of decapitation and dismemberment, murder, car jackings, illegal drug use, rape, prostitution, assault and other violent crimes.
Under the proposed law, a first offense by a retailer would carry a fine of up to $1,000. A second offense would carry a fine of up to $5,000. Any subsequent offenses would be punishable by a jail term of up to 90 days, a fine of up to $5,000 or both.
Violent video games have been a commercial hit in recent months but have also attracted the scrutiny of regulators in the United States and elsewhere.
BEATING THE ELDERLY
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.’s "Grand Theft Auto 3," a criminal adventure game that includes scenes of violence against the elderly and police, was the best-selling game in the nation for more than four months until March. The game was initially banned in Australia.
More recently German lawmakers have debated violence on television and in video games after a 19-year-old failed student shot dead 16 people at his former school and then killed himself. The April 26 shooting in the eastern town of Erfurt was Germany’s worst mass murder since World War Two.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is in the process of preparing a report on both media violence and the ability of minors to access such content.
A report on the same subject last December praised the video game business for its self-imposed system of game ratings and its compliance efforts but said more could be done to strengthen controls at the retail level.
"I certainly respect the concerns that give rise to a bill like this," said Doug Lowenstein, the president of the Interactive Digital Software Association, the video game industry’s trade group. But Lowenstein called the bill "both unnecessary and unconstitutional."
At least one major U.S. retailer also questioned the need for such legal penalties. "For us, we believe it’s ultimately an issue of parental responsibility," said Bill Cimino, a spokesman for Circuit City Stores Inc. Circuit City already has a policy of requesting identification from anyone who appears to be under age when they buy video games, he said.
FEDERAL COURT UPHELD RESTRICTIONS
An April 19 ruling in a St. Louis federal court upheld a local ordinance requiring parental consent to purchase video games with graphic violence. A similar law in Indianapolis was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal court last year.
In a statement announcing the bill last week, Baca cited statistics claiming that 92 percent of children between the ages of two and 17 play video games and said that previous studies have showed that they can be made to identify with the "digital criminals" in video games.
"I’ve had enough of the violence we’re experiencing among our youth," Baca said. "When kids play video games, they assume the identity of the characters in the games ... Do you really want your kids assuming the role of a mass murderer or car jacker when you are away at work?"
Under the system established by the Entertainment Software Review Board, games rated "Mature" are not intended for children under 17 years old.
