II 

Calendar No. 262 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 134 

[Report No. 113–126] 

To arrange for the National Academy of Sciences to study the impact of 

violent video games and violent video programming on children. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 24 (legislative day, JANUARY 3), 2013 

Mr. ROCKEFELLER (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. COBURN, Mr. 

JOHANNS, Mr. HELLER, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. PRYOR) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

DECEMBER 17, 2013 

Reported by Mr. ROCKEFELLER, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To arrange for the National Academy of Sciences to study 

the impact of violent video games and violent video programming on children. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Violent Content Re3 search Act of 2013’’. 

4 SEC. 2. STUDY; NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commis7 sion, the Federal Communications Commission, and the 

8 Department of Health and Human Services, jointly, shall 

9 undertake to enter into appropriate arrangements with the 

10 National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive 

11 study and investigation of— 

12 (1) whether there is a connection between expo13 sure to violent video games and harmful effects on 

14 children; and 

15 (2) whether there is a connection between expo16 sure to violent video programming and harmful ef17 fects on children. 

18 (b) CONTENTS OF STUDY AND INVESTIGATION.— 

19 (1) VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES.—The study and in20 vestigation under subsection (a) shall include— 

21 (A) whether the exposure listed under sub22 section (a)(1)— 

23 (i) causes children to act aggressively 

24 or causes other measurable harm to chil25 dren; 


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1 (ii) has a disproportionately harmful 

2 effect on children already prone to aggres3 sive behavior or on other identifiable 

4 groups of children; and 

5 (iii) has a harmful effect that is dis6 tinguishable from any negative effects pro7 duced by other types of media; 

8 (B) whether any harm identified under 

9 subparagraph (A)(i) has a direct and long-last10 ing impact on a child’s well-being; and 

11 (C) whether current or emerging charac12 teristics of video games have a unique impact 

13 on children, considering in particular video 

14 games’ interactive nature and the extraor15 dinarily personal and vivid way violence might 

16 be portrayed in such video games. 

17 (2) VIOLENT VIDEO PROGRAMMING.—The study 

18 and investigation under subsection (a) shall in19 clude— 

20 (A) whether the exposure listed under sub21 section (a)(2)— 

22 (i) causes children to act aggressively 

23 or causes other measurable harm to chil24 dren; 


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1 (ii) has a disproportionately harmful 

2 effect on children already prone to aggres3 sive behavior or on other identifiable 

4 groups of children; and 

5 (iii) has a harmful effect that is dis6 tinguishable from any negative effects pro7 duced by other types of media; and 

8 (B) whether any harm identified under 

9 subparagraph (A)(i) has a direct and long-last10 ing impact on a child’s well-being. 

11 (3) FUTURE RESEARCH.—The study and inves12 tigation under subsection (a) shall identify gaps in 

13 the current state of research which, if closed, could 

14 provide additional information regarding any causal 

15 connection— 

16 (A) between exposure to violent video 

17 games and behavior; and 

18 (B) between exposure to violent video pro19 gramming and behavior. 

20 (c) REPORT.—In entering into any arrangements 

21 with the National Academy of Sciences for conducting the 

22 study and investigation under this section, the Federal 

23 Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commis24 sion, and the Department of Health and Human Services 

25 shall request the National Academy of Sciences to submit, 


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1 not later than 15 months after the date on which such 

2 arrangements are completed, a report on the results of the 

3 study and investigation to— 

4 (1) Congress; 

5 (2) the Federal Trade Commission; 

6 (3) the Federal Communications Commission; 

7 and 

8 (4) the Department of Health and Human 

9 Services. 

10 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

11 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Violent Content Research 

12 Act of 2013’’. 

13 SEC. 2. STUDY; NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 

15 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commis16 sion, the Federal Communications Commission, and the De17 partment of Health and Human Services, jointly, shall un18 dertake to enter into appropriate arrangements with the 

19 National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive 

20 study and investigation of— 

21 (1) whether there is a connection between expo22 sure to violent video games and harmful effects on 

23 children that is distinguishable from the effects of any 

24 other factors; and 


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1 (2) whether there is a connection between expo2 sure to violent video programming and harmful ef3 fects on children that is distinguishable from the ef4 fects of any other factors. 

5 (b) CONTENTS OF STUDY AND INVESTIGATION.— 

6 (1) VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES.—The study and in7 vestigation under subsection (a) shall include— 

8 (A) whether the exposure listed under sub9 section (a)(1)— 

10 (i) causes children to act aggressively 

11 or causes other measurable harm to chil12 dren; 

13 (ii) has a disproportionately harmful 

14 effect on the behavior of children already 

15 prone to aggression or on the behavior of 

16 other identifiable groups of children; and 

17 (iii) has a harmful effect on children’s 

18 behavior that is distinguishable from any 

19 negative effects produced by other types of 

20 media; 

21 (B) whether any harm identified under sub22 paragraph (A)(i) has a direct and long-lasting 

23 impact on a child’s well-being; and 

24 (C) whether current or emerging character25 istics of violent video games have a uniquely 


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1 harmful effect on the behavior of children, con2 sidering in particular such games’ concretely 

3 interactive nature. 

4 (2) VIOLENT VIDEO PROGRAMMING.—The study 

5 and investigation under subsection (a) shall in6 clude— 

7 (A) whether the exposure listed under sub8 section (a)(2)— 

9 (i) causes children to act aggressively 

10 or causes other measurable harm to chil11 dren; 

12 (ii) has a disproportionately harmful 

13 effect on the behavior of children already 

14 prone to aggression or on the behavior of 

15 other identifiable groups of children; and 

16 (iii) has a harmful effect on children’s 

17 behavior that is distinguishable from any 

18 negative effects produced by other types of 

19 media; and 

20 (B) whether any harm identified under sub21 paragraph (A)(i) has a direct and long-lasting 

22 impact on a child’s well-being. 

23 (3) FUTURE RESEARCH.—The study and inves24 tigation under subsection (a) shall identify gaps in 

25 the current state of research which, if closed, could 


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1 provide information regarding any causal connec2 tion— 

3 (A) between exposure to violent video games 

4 and harmful effects on children’s behavior; and 

5 (B) between exposure to violent video pro6 gramming and harmful effects on children’s be7 havior. 

8 (c) REPORT.—In entering into any arrangements with 

9 the National Academy of Sciences for conducting the study 

10 and investigation under this section, the Federal Trade 

11 Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, 

12 and the Department of Health and Human Services shall 

13 request the National Academy of Sciences to submit, not 

14 later than 15 months after the date on which such arrange15 ments are completed, a report on the results of the study 

16 and investigation to— 

17 (1) Congress; 

18 (2) the Federal Trade Commission; 

19 (3) the Federal Communications Commission; 

20 and 

21 (4) the Department of Health and Human Serv22 ices. 


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Calendar No. 262 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 134 

[Report No. 113–126] 

A BILL 

To arrange for the National Academy of Sciences 

violent video programming on children. to study the impact of violent video games and 

DECEMBER 17, 2013 

Reported with an amendment 


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