Archive for the ‘Child Protection’ Category

The State’s evidence is not compelling. California relies primarily on the research of Dr. Craig Anderson and a few other research psychologists whose studies purport toshow a connection between exposure to violent video games and harmful effects on children. These studies have been rejected by every court to consider them,6 and with good reason: They do not prove that violent video
6See Video Software Dealers Assn. v. Schwarzenegger, 556 F. 3d 950, 963–964 (CA9 2009); Interactive Digital Software Assn. v. St. Louis County, 329 F. 3d 954 (CA8 2003); American Amusement Machine Assn.
v. Kendrick, 244 F. 3d 572, 578–579 (CA7 2001); Entertainment Soft-ware Assn. v. Foti, 451 F. Supp. 2d 823, 832–833 (MD La. 2006); Enter-tainment Software Assn. v. Hatch, 443 F. Supp. 2d 1065, 1070 (Minn. 2006), aff ’d, 519 F. 3d 768 (CA8 2008); Entertainment Software Assn. v. Granholm, 426 F. Supp. 2d 646, 653 (ED Mich. 2006); Entertainment Software Assn. v. Blagojevich, 404 F. Supp. 2d 1051, 1063 (ND Ill. 2005), aff ’d, 469 F. 3d 641 (CA7 2006).
games cause minors to act aggressively (which would at least be a beginning). Instead, “[n]early all of the researchis based on correlation, not evidence of causation, and most of the studies suffer from significant, admitted flaws in methodology.” Video Software Dealers Assn. 556 F. 3d, at 964. They show at best some correlation between expo-sure to violent entertainment and minuscule real-world effects, such as children’s feeling more aggressive or mak-ing louder noises in the few minutes after playing a vio-lent game than after playing a nonviolent game.7
—————— 7One study, for example, found that children who had just finishedplaying violent video games were more likely to fill in the blank letter in “explo_e” with a “d” (so that it reads “explode”) than with an “r” (“explore”). App. 496, 506 (internal quotation marks omitted). The prevention of this phenomenon, which might have been anticipated with common sense, is not a compelling state interest. 8JUSTICE ALITO is mistaken in thinking that we fail to
thatviolent video games produce some effect on children’s feelings of aggression, those effects are both small and indistinguishable from effects produced by other media.In his testimony in a similar lawsuit, Dr. Anderson admit-ted that the “effect sizes” of children’s exposure to violent video games are “about the same” as that produced bytheir exposure to violence on television. App. 1263. And he admits that the same effects have been found when children watch cartoons starring Bugs Bunny or the Road Runner, id., at 1304, or when they play video games like Sonic the Hedgehog that are rated “E” (appropriate for all ages), id., at 1270, or even when they “vie[w] a picture of a gun,” id., at 1315–1316.8

Today’s Supreme Court decision in Brown v. EMA casts doubt on one of the shibboleths of gun prohibition.

Since the 1960s, some social scientists have been attempting to prove that guns cause violence. They do not make this claim in the straightforward sense that guns, as tools, can be used for malign purposes–for example, that a criminal with a gun might attempt a robbery which would he would consider too risky if he did not have a gun. Rather, the claim is that the presence of makes ordinary people more aggressive, anti-social and violent. Thus, as one study put it, “the trigger pulls the finger.” The hypothesis is known as “the weapons effect.”

Continue reading ‘Brown v. EMA casts doubt on the “weapons effect” justification for gun control’ »

Categories: Child Protection, Constitutional Law, Expert Evidence, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Guns, Supreme Court 102 Comments

I interviewed Brown University history professor James T. Patterson about his book examining the tragic rise of illegitimacy rates, and the American political elite’s refusal to address the problem for decades. MP3, 50 minutes. During the course of our discussion, I mentioned my own writing about successful early intervention programs for at-risk children; that writing is contained in this Barry Law Review article, text at notes 214-28. (A much more detailed analysis is contained in my book Guns: Who Should Have Them?).

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Categories: Child Protection, Civil Rights, History 48 Comments

The case is In re T.T., decided today by the Nebraska Court of Appeals. A few relevant passages:

This appeal involves a 17-year-old youth, T.T., who was left by his parents at a Lincoln, Nebraska, hospital under a previous version of Nebraska’s “Safe Haven” law. The mother and stepfather, S.Q. and A.Q., respectively, whom we generally reference throughout as “the parents,” appeal from the decision of the separate juvenile court of Lancaster County prohibiting them from disclosing to the public specified information concerning T.T., his medical condition, and his treatment (the gag order), as well as from the court’s order that they participate in a pretreatment assessment. We conclude that the gag order cannot survive constitutional scrutiny …….

[T]he juvenile court ordered:

There will be no further public disclosure by the parents of [T.T.’s] private medical information: [T.T.’s] full, legal name; [T.T.’s] date of birth; his social security number; any specific diagnosis that he has been given; any medication he has been prescribed; names of any providers of treatment to [T.T.] and type of treatment provided.

… [W]e can surmise … that the November 26 gag order arose from the publication of an article in the Wall Street Journal about T.T. and Nebraska’s then-existing Safe Haven law….

We do not disagree with the juvenile court’s conclusion that further disclosure of T.T.’s private medical information is not in T.T.’s best interests, because we think the evidence recited above [omitted in this excerpt -EV] makes that conclusion inescapable. However, the fundamental difficulty is that the child’s best interests are not the standard, nor does the juvenile court’s rationale for the entry of the gag order comport with the established law allowing the lawful entry of a judicial order imposing a prior restraint on speech.

The law is clear that our obligation is to subject a prior restraint on free speech to “exacting scrutiny” and that such restraints begin with a “heavy presumption” of unconstitutionality. When we scrutinize the gag order, remembering that it is the State’s “heavy burden” to justify the restraint, we must assess “the imminence and magnitude of the danger … and then … balance the character of the evil … against the need for free and unfettered expression.”

And in this case, the evidence is that the parents wish to exercise their right of free speech in the arena where public policy is formed, rather than merely for their own personal ends. Given the applicable legal principles regarding prior restraints on speech, we hold that a restraint on speech against disclosure to the public of information about a juvenile because it is in the juvenile’s “best interest,” as the juvenile court found, is an insufficiently justified prior restraint on speech. We now turn to the danger or harm to T.T. and its imminence.

No witness testified that further disclosure posed imminent physical or emotional harm or danger to T.T. of any magnitude. The record clearly supports the conclusion that if T.T.’s parents make further public disclosure about him, his past difficulties, or his treatment, T.T. will likely be angry and embarrassed, plus reconciliation with his family will be more difficult. On the other hand, we remember that the evidence shows he is “over it” with respect to the Wall Street Journal article. And, as said in The Pentagon Papers, a prior restraint on speech cannot be predicated on “surmise or conjecture that untoward consequence may result.” Moreover, while we do not know exactly what was disclosed in the Wall Street Journal article, it is a permissible inference that at least some of the information restricted by the gag order is already in the public domain. Thus, this factor reduces the effectiveness of the gag order, as well as undercuts any claim that the danger of harm is imminent….

Having said this, we must acknowledge the tension between the parents’ right to speak about T.T., although doing so is not in his best interests, and our often-stated doctrine that the juvenile court need not wait for disaster to befall a minor child before acting. But, that doctrine has never been applied in the context of a gag order on parents involved in the juvenile system.

Sounds correct to me.

Categories: Child Protection, Freedom of Speech 11 Comments

The Latest in the Rifqa Bary Case

• December 2, 2009 4:14 pm

This is the case I blogged about a few months ago, in which a 17-year-old girl from a Muslim family ran away from home, claiming her father had threatened to “hurt her, kill her or send her back to Sri Lanka” because she had converted to Christianity. A police investigation apparently concluded that the girl’s charges were unfounded, though obviously there’s still a factual dispute between the girls and the parents on this. Now here’s the latest, from the AP:

[Bary and her family] must listen to each other’s views about religion if they are to reunite, a possibility that appears in jeopardy since the girl continues to refuse any contact with her parents or siblings, a caseworker says.

A case-management plan filed Monday said Rifqa Bary and her parents should hear what each has to say about Islam and Christianity as a step toward a possible reunification. But the plan, written by a government caseworker, also said “severe differences” exist between the 17-year-old girl and her parents over what led Rifqa to run away to Florida over the summer….

Bary’s parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, agree with their daughter being in foster care for the moment, but are concerned about her and would like a family relationship with her again, according to the plan….

Thanks to Religion Clause for the pointer.

Categories: Child Protection, Parental Rights, Religious Freedom 81 Comments