In 2011, the United States Supreme Court struck down a California statute restricting children's access to video games depicting violence. The California Assembly had based the law on claims that playing such games increased the likelihood that children would become more violent in real life. A majority of the Supreme Court was not persuaded that research about the effects of playing video games provided evidence of a compelling state interest in restricting their availability to children. However, one dissenting Justice argued that the Court should have deferred to professional organizations like the APA, which in 2005 adopted a resolution calling for a reduction of violent imagery in video games marketed to children. This article considers the role played by the APA in evaluating research on the relationship between video games and violent behavior and suggests ways in which the organization could better assist legislators, the courts and the public in understanding such research. Copyright 2013 American Journal of Forensic Psychology.
