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Court Upholds Injunction on Minnesota Violent Game Law

By Chris Bennett, Tudor Carsten, Michael R. Coburn, Sarah Dale-Harris, Pablo Guzman, Danielle (Dani) Lemon, Chris Metcalfe and David Spratley

Another Court of Appeal has upheld an injunction against a law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. Once again, the absence of proof of harm was the key factor. However, the 8th Circuit appellate court was less than enthusiastic about the evidentiary hurdle that such a standard implies. Writing for the court, Justice Wollman held:

"Whatever our intuitive (dare we say commonsense) feelings regarding the effect that extreme violence portrayed in the above-described video games may well have upon the psychological well-being of minors, [previous precedent requires] incontrovertible proof of a causal relationship between the exposure to such violence and subsequent psychological dysfunction'--The requirement of such a high level of proof may reflect a refined estrangement from reality, but apply it we must.'

A copy of the ruling can be found here.

Coverage available from the Chicago Tribune.

Posted by Michael Mjanes

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Full post as published by Video Game Law Blog on March 25, 2008 (boomark / email).