Hon. Stephen G. Breyer: “[c]utting-edge neuroscience has shown that ‘virtual violence in video game playing results in those neural patterns that are considered characteristic for aggressive cognition and behavior’”
The U.S. Supreme Court recently invalidated (7-2) a California law that banned the sale of violent videogames to children. The majority, in an opinion by Justice Scalia, held in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assoc., that videogames were subject to First Amendment “speech” protection. In dissent, Justice Breyer noted that “[c]utting-edge neuroscience has shown that ‘virtual violence in video game playing results in those neural patterns that are considered characteristic for aggressive cognition and behavior.’” He argued the Court should defer, for this reason among others, to the elected legislature’s conclusion that the videogames in question were likely to harm children.
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