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Controversial Video Game Violence Ordinance Struck Down in Indianapolis
The city of Indianapolis has been barred from enforcing a controversial ordinance that would have restricted access by children under 18 to violent arcade-style video games.
The 3-0 ruling, handed down late Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, was immediately hailed as an "extremely strong decision" protecting both free speech and upholding the First Amendment rights of minors by the two arcade groups that filed the suit last summer.
"When it's unanimous as this decision is, it sends the clearest possible signal," says attorney Elliott Portnoy of the firm Arent Fox, which filed the case on behalf of the American Amusement Machine Association and the Amusement & Music Operators Association.
"The evidence is not out there that playing video games causes anybody to engage in violent behavior," agrees Sean Bersell, v.p. of government affairs for the Video Software Dealers Association, which filed a "friend of the court" brief in the case. "These type of attempts to restrict video games based on violent content are doomed to failure."
However, Indianapolis' deputy corporation counsel Beth White says the city is "not backing down on our desire to have these types of regulations in place" and is currently considering an appeal either to the U.S. Supreme Court or a full-bench hearing before the entire 7th Circuit Court.
"We may try to recraft the ordinance in a way that would address some of the court's concerns but that would be a distant third option," she says.
The court's decision stated that "common sense says that the city's claim of harm to its citizens from these games is implausible, at best, wildly speculative." Further, the ruling noted that children are "unlikely to become well-functioning, independent-minded adults and responsible citizens if they are raised in an intellectual bubble."
The ruling orders the U.S. District Court to issue an injunction barring enforcement of the law and returns the suit to the lower court for a full hearing -- with the caveat that the game industry has "shown a strong likelihood of ultimate victory" in the case.
The ordinance was passed last summer as one of mayor Bart Peterson's first acts in office, following a campaign pledge to strike out against a growing "culture of violence."
The law -- scheduled to go into effect Sept. 1, 2001 -- would have prevented minors not accompanied by a parent from playing sexually explicit or violent video games that depicted such acts as decapitation, dismemberment or mutilation. Such games would have required warning labels, a 10-foot separation from other games, and a wall or other barrier that would block them from being seen by minors. Businesses violating the restrictions would have been subject to a $200-per-day fine and revocation of their licenses following a third offense.
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