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Public Policy Panel and Working
Group
Panel chair: Jeff
McIntyre, American Psychological Association
Panel presenters:
U.S. Rep. Betty
McCollum, D-Minnesota (4th congressional district)
Michael Rich, M.D.,
MPH, Harvard School of Public Health
Catherine J. Ross,
Ph.D, JD, George Washington University Law School
Kevin Saunders,
JD, Ph.D., Michigan State University
The Summit public policy panel discussion covered two areas of
public policy debate: youth video gaming as a public health issue
and legislative attempts to restrict youth video game access.
Youth video gaming as a public
health issue
Presenters:
Both presenters provided avenues for addressing youth video gaming
as a public health issue in order to shape public policy on youth
video gaming:
- Leveraging elected officials' heightened awareness
- Reframing the public policy debate from one of social values
to one of child health
Leveraging elected officials' heightened awareness
One indication that youth video gaming is evolving into a priority
public health issue is the heightened awareness of state and federal
elected officials about violent video games. The elected officials'
perspectives are heavily influenced by parent constituents who
have conveyed concerns about their children's access or exposure
to violent video games.
At the federal level, Congress would likely support two tracks
that would not involve direct regulation of the video game industry:
- Establishing an independent video rating board to provide
more reliable ratings, rather than ratings based on subjective
social norms
- Supporting educational programs for parents so they have
greater awareness of video game content, the effects of video
games, and a better understanding of how to monitor and intervene
with their children's video gaming
Other potential federal legislation could encourage development
of positive video games, such as video games that promote positive
social decision-making, or development of a universal rating system
to bring consistency and improved information to help parents avoid
violent or sexually explicit content in any form of media.
Reframing the public policy debate
Public policy debates on youth video gaming have, to date, been
framed in terms of social values. This has kept youth video gaming
from being a priority issue for policymakers.
To improve prospects for public policy proposals on youth video
gaming, public health organizations should work collectively to
reframe the public policy debate: rather than based on social
values, youth video gaming should be reframed from an entirely
public health perspective. This would carry numerous benefits:
- Public policy debates would focus on the degree children's
mental, physical and social health is affected by video gaming.
- Outcomes of concern from video gaming would be objective
and measurable rather than subjective.
- Policy debates would be based not on social norms, but
on child development and educational outcomes.
- Proposed legislation would shift from advocating for restrictions
to advancing public health initiatives, which avoids the problems
of constitutional restrictions on free speech.
Research Citations
Committee on Public
Education. Media violence. Pediatrics. 2001;108:1222-1226
Legislative attempts to restrict youth video
game access
Presenters:
Catherine J. Ross,
Ph.D, JD, George Washington University Law School
Kevin Saunders, JD,
Ph.D., Michigan State University
Video games are speech, and under the Speech Clause of the First
Amendment, may not be regulated based on content or viewpoint.
Moreover, the Supreme Court has expressly held that depictions
of violence are protected under the Speech Clause. To date, eight
states have passed legislation to restrict youth access to violent
video games. Federal courts have overturned or enjoined enforcement
of each of the statutes that they have ruled on so far. No statute
regulating video games has survived judicial review.
The judicial rulings in these lawsuits suggest that in order to
support government restrictions on the sale or distribution of
violent video games, as the Congressional Research Service has
concluded, "the government would have to present empirical
evidence that these games harm minors or cause them to become
violent," which the expert testimony in litigation thus far
has failed to establish.
Future public policy initiatives might include the following:
- Develop additional scientific research: recent court opinions
have been seeking a higher standard of science than existing media
effects research, with a different definition of causality than
most social scientists use. New research findings could specifically
compare standards of causality and probability, and explain reasons
for pursuing research findings that use probability and correlations.
- Educate the judiciary about the scientific process, particularly
as it relates to behavioral sciences.
- Consider opportunities for presenting youth video game
restrictions as a compelling government interest for the psychological
well-being of children. However, this may also face First Amendment
challenges.
- Pursue non-regulatory public policy options, such as a
video game rating system independent of the video game industry
or a universal ratings system that would apply to all media forms.
The discussion on benefits and drawbacks for legislation to establish
an independent rating system or a universal rating system are
summarized in Table II.
Research Citations
Table II - Summary of Benefits and Drawbacks
| |
Benefits
|
Drawbacks
|
| Independent rating system |
- Ratings not dependent on video gaming industry
- Objective measures for validity and reliability
- Option to use public pressure to enforce - work with
retailers/ suppliers
|
Cannot mandate on video game industry because
of free speech |
| Universal ratings system |
- Easier for parents to use than multiple media rating
systems
- Opportunity to move away from ratings based on shifting
norms of society
- Ratings based on psychological risks for harm
|
Could result in a lower quality media rating
system, such as current rating system for movies, although
this would not occur if the universal rating system uses measures
that are objective, reliable and valid. |
Public Policy Working Group Recommendations
The working group was chaired by the panel chair:
Jeff McIntyre,
American Psychological Association
Members of the Public Policy Working Group included:
Mary Kay Craig,
Violence & Militarism Working Group, Interfaith Center on Corporate
Responsibility
Eileen Espejo,
Children Now
Michael Rich, M.D.,
MPH, Harvard School of Public Health
Catherine J. Ross,
Ph.D, JD, George Washington University Law School
Kevin Saunders, JD,
Ph.D., Michigan State University
Public policy recommendations covered a broad array of proposals,
with a common theme of addressing youth video gaming as a public
health issue that demands higher priority by legislators.
Recommendations include:
Government-designated Stakeholder Task Force
Seek to have a government entity create a task force of stakeholders
on video gaming to achieve common goals and common language, and
define ways to reduce the polarization around existing effects
research. Members would include:
- Scientific researchers - psychologists, social psychologists,
educators, media scholars, communicator scholars, etc.
- Literary / cultural studies researchers
- Video gaming industry
- Public health officials
- Children's advocates
- Legal counsel
Temporary moratorium on legislation
A temporary moratorium on legislation designed to restrict sales/rentals
of violent video games to minors is recommended, but only under
the condition that there would be:
- Pending additional scientific research designed to address
questions raised by the courts.
- Commitment to pursue such research.
Scientific amicus filings
Encourage scientific organizations to file - either independently
or jointly - amicus briefs, or friend-of-the-court briefs, in
support of court cases involving video game sales restrictions.
Judiciary educational programs
Establish dedicated educational programs for the judiciary system
on:
- How scientific research establishes probabilistic conclusions
about causality.
- Translating scientific research for court opinions / decisions.
This would carry benefits and applications in a variety of areas
of behavioral sciences.
Federally-funded research for prevention intervention strategies
- Pursue dedication of federal health research dollars to
design research studies to answer questions the courts have raised
in rulings on video game retail sales restrictions.
- Pursue federally-funded educational research on the best
methods to frame communications to reach parents effectively to
improve understanding and use of video game ratings.
Universal ratings exploration
While government probably cannot require universal ratings of video
games, government entities would be encouraged to engage in their
own free speech and publicize retailers and arcades and other video
game outlets that allow access by children to inappropriate video
games. The intention is to give the public greater awareness about
and use of video game ratings. |
