The Supreme Court will take on a case regarding the reinstatement of California's ban on violent videogame sales to minors, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER [1]. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco tossed out the ban in 2009 stating that it infringed on minors' constitutional rights.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the ban into law in 2005 and defends it as a way to protect children. Yet, the judge that authored the overturn commented on many studies that found no harmful affects to children from exposure to violent videogames.
This move comes a week after the Supreme Court voted against a federal ban on videos with violence to animals.
California’s law banned games that included “killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being” to children under 18. Additionally, it created strict labeling requirements. Stores who sold violent games to kids could have received up to a $1,000 fine for each offense.
After the game industry sued the state, a U.S. District Court stopped the law from going into affect. The industry argues that videogames are already labeled for content and that it’s a parents' responsibility to monitor what their children purchase and play. Defenders of the law point to the Supreme Court's support of bans for minors on pornography, alcohol and tobacco and state that the ban does not stop parents from buying the games for their children if they wish to.
Links:
[1] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i791eb4a866761a30262d93d311437066