법정에 선 사회과학: 폭력적인 비디오 게임과 청소년들의 폭력성의 연관관계에 대한 심리학적 연구들과 이에 대한 미연방법원에서의 수용의 문제

In the U.S., after the tragic accident of Columbine High School, various media and legislators at the federal, state, and local levels considered violent video games as one of the most critical cause of juvenile delinquency and made frequent legislative attempts to address the video games’ perceived negative influence on the youth. A handful of states have enacted laws that prohibit the sales and rentals of violent video games to the minors. These legislative attempts heavily relied on the social science researches, such as the study of Professor Craig Anderson of the Iowa State University, which found a positive correlation between long-term exposure to violent video games and several outcome variables including youth aggressiveness. However, no law limiting children’s access to violent video games has successfully withstood legal challenge despite numerous attempts. Most importantly, the Kendrick court determined that the psychological research did not support the instant ordinance because the studies did not find that video games have ever caused anyone to commit a violent act. Likewise, several federal courts and the Supreme Court were most concerned with the methodology or sufficiency of the social science research as well as that the research did not support the material targeted by the regulations of several states. Therefore,the federal courts disregarded social science evidence in the judicial review of violent video game regulation, to which the courts applied a strict scrutiny standard. Concluding that the evidence does not support the legislature’s purported interest in preventing psychological harm, the courts seemed most concerned with the lack of evidence establishing a causal link between minors playing violent video games and actual harm. Considering the value of the free expression in American society, the federal courts are expected to sustain this strict approach to the social science research in the judicial review of the content-based regulation of expression, such as a regulation of violent video games.