BILL REQ. #:  H-1205.2 

Read first time 02/22/2005.   Referred to Committee on Juvenile Justice & Family Law.

     AN ACT Relating to violent video and computer games; adding a new section to chapter 4.24 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that:
     (1) The graphic depictions of violence against others in video and computer games are becoming more disturbingly realistic, especially with the sophisticated advancements in technology;
     (2) Some video and computer games give the player points or otherwise reward or encourage the player to assault, rape, torture, and kill other characters;
     (3) Some of these games contain graphics of torture, sexual assault, and killing of women, persons of color, and law enforcement officers;
     (4) These games choreograph violence in a stylized and romanticized way that encourages children and adolescents to associate violence and killing with pleasure, entertainment, feelings of achievement, and personal empowerment;
     (5) Studies show a correlation between exposure to violent video and computer games and hostile behavior. Children and adolescents who spend hours playing these video games can become desensitized to violence against others, and such games can be a factor in creating conditions that lead to actual violence;
     (6) Throughout the country, law enforcement officers report that offenders committing violent crimes admit that they are intentionally copying the types of violent acts they play out in video or computer games. There have been accounts reported in the media in which violent offenders boast of the similarity between their crimes and the games; and
     (7) Manufacturers and retailers of these games are aware of the inappropriateness of violent video and computer games for children. Manufacturers and retailers are also aware of the studies and reports regarding the effects of these violent video and computer games on adolescents.
     The legislature declares that manufacturers and retailers of these games should do their part in taking responsibility when individuals copy in real life the violence they learn from these violent video and computer games. Therefore, the legislature intends to create a private cause of action against manufacturers and retailers of violent video and computer games.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 4.24 RCW to read as follows:
     A person may maintain an action for personal injury or wrongful death against a manufacturer or retailer of violent video or computer games if the manufacturer or retailer has distributed, sold, or rented a violent video or computer game to a person under the age of seventeen and the game was a factor in creating conditions that assisted or encouraged the person to cause injury or death to another person.