Canadian Boys Forbidden To Play Violent Video Games During Probation

Posted by Liz Surette on September 7, 2008

Two 16-year-old boys who pled guilty to the unlawful killing of an animal (specifically microwaving a cat during a break-in and vandalizing of a home) will receive probation in lieu of jail time. Accompanied by the typical community service, mandatory therapy, curfew and requirement to report regularly to a probation officer, is an additional order prohibiting them from playing violent video games. Exactly what constitutes “violent” is not elaborated on by sources, but we can assume that Manhunt 2 is out of the question. “How can the judge do this”, you ask?

Assuming Canadian probation law is like American law, judges may impose any conditions they see fit on juvenile probation, provided they are not illegal, immoral, or impossible to perform. At first glance, the prohibition seems impossible to enforce because gaming typically takes place in private, but so might other more common conditions imposed such as prohibitions on alcohol use or contact with certain people.

Interestingly, the psychological evaluations of the boys did not show a link between violent video games and auto-defrosting the cat to death, however the same evaluations recommend barring them from playing violent games anyway. In the US, courts have found that a probation condition is invalid if it has no relation to the criminal conduct, or if it relates to non-criminal conduct that is not reasonably related to future criminality. (The link between video games and criminal behavior hasn’t yet been proven to the satisfaction of American courts–as evidenced by the striking-down of game sales restriction laws–that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.)

No matter your opinion of the order, by analogy it will probably stand. Though any link between gaming and this crime is shaky at best, it is no more unsound (from a legal standpoint anyway) than banning a child from leaving their home after 9pm for an offense they committed during the day. Though the ban on playing “violent” video games is vague because notions of violence are subjective, juveniles have been ordered to do more amorphous things such as “stay out of trouble”. This order is not quite as tailored to the circumstances as orders should ideally be, but is not legally invalid either.

Source: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=f8503906-3187-4b0a-816f-d65da7a0f322 via GamePolitics

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