Jack Thomson May be Jailed for Contempt

Jack Thompson, the Florida attorney who has been so outspoken about video games, could face jail for contempt of court. It all starts with Thompson's attempt to have Rockstar Games' newest offering, Bully, proclaimed a "public nuisance". Thompson petitioned Florida U.S. judge Ronald M. Friedman to sign-off on the Thompson petition. Judge Friedman reviewed Bully with an employee of Rockstar Games and then proclaimed that the game was "less violent than what we see on T.V. every night."

In a statement released today, Thompson claims that Judge Friedman violated his own order by allowing "paid employees of Take-Two to take him on a guided tour of the game, with no cross-examination by Thompson, in which they falsely told the Judge how nonviolent the game was and that violence is uniformly punished in the game. "

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Now Thompson has been ordered to appear before Judge Friedman today at 4:00 PM EDT and "explain to Judge Friedman why he should not be held in contempt and thrown into jail." Thompson claims that attorneys for Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, have the ear of the judge and are asking "this same Judge Friedman to fine Thompson or throw him in jail for being “disrespectful” of this Judge."

Bully is set in a boarding school and involves the player becoming a school boy who has to negotiate and sometimes fight his way through school life, with all its cliques and confrontations. Though Thompson acknowledges that in Bully there is no blood and that the stakes are pretty low. Also that one of the biggest "crimes" in it involves breaking curfew and wondering around while the player should be in class, according to Judge Friedman's statement. Bully was released on October 17th, 2006.

Almost a year ago, Thompson appeared on GameSHOUT Radio and discussed his views about violent video games. He stated that he is only interested in seeing violent video games - that he terms murder simulator - out of the hands of youngsters. A copy of that interview is available to GameSHOUT VIP Members in the Interview section. Thompson recently told OUT-LAW Radio that in Florida there is what is called a nuisance statute which says that a private citizen can get an injunction to shut down any commercial activity that is dangerous to the public, and he thinks that the statute is appropriate to apply to this game.

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