Law Commons^™

America's Newest Boogeyman For Deviant Teen Behavior: Violent Video Games And The First Amendment, Joseph C. Alfe, Grant D. Talabay

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

Are violent video games harming America’s youth? Is it possible a series of interconnected circuit boards can influence children (or even adults) to become, themselves, violent? If so, how should our society-- and government-- respond?

To properly answer this last query, violent video games must be viewed through the lens of the First Amendment. Simply put: do games depicting grotesque acts of depravity so profound as to negatively influence the psyche warrant the full constitutional protections ordinarily guaranteed under the mantle of free speech and expression? Are these guarantees without limit? If not, how far may the government go in …

Law And A New Land Ethic, John A. Humbach

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

As open space comes under increasing development pressure, existing-use zoning provides a direct and forthright way to preserve the line between urban and non-urban land use. Ultimately it may be the only practical means for protecting high-demand or sensitive areas such as wetlands, coastlines, lakeshores, floodplains, stream corridors, and pristine reservoir watersheds. This Article reviews the viability of existing-use zoning under United States Supreme Court interpretations of the Constitution's takings clause. It concludes that nothing in those interpretations disallows this straightforward approach to preserving our country's familiar patterns of land use and development.