OTTAWA – Episodes of the crime drama series ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent’ and ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ did not violate the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) violence code, and therefore can air prior to 9:00 pm, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has ruled .
The programs in question aired from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm on March 21, 2008 on OMNI.2 (CJMT-TV, Toronto), and a viewer complained that the episodes aired at a time when children were likely to be watching television.
In ‘Criminal Intent’, the police officers investigate high profile crimes, and in ‘Special Victims Unit’, the officers investigate sex-related crimes. Both episodes contained scenes with dead bodies and injured victims, as well as conversations about the nature of the crimes, but no actual violent acts.
OMNI.2 aired a viewer advisory at the beginning of each program and coming out of every commercial break, plus rated the programs 14+. It maintained that the focus of the programs is on the investigation of the crimes, rather than on the commission of violence.
The Ontario Regional Panel examined the complaint under Article 3.0 of the CAB Violence Code, which states that scenes of violence intended for adult audiences shall only be shown during the Watershed period of 9:00 pm to 6:00 am.
Citing numerous precedents, the panel concluded that the content of these programs did not amount to “scenes intended for adult audiences”, and pointed out that “the conclusion that a program may be permitted to play before 9:00 pm does not mean that it will be suitable for children under 12.”
It added:
The bottom line is that the pre- versus post- 9:00 pm decision is the responsibility of the broadcaster, but once a program is properly situated in one of those categories, suitability issues become the responsibility of the parents. The role of broadcasters in assisting parents to draw such suitability conclusions as are appropriate for their own families goes further. Licensees have to provide parents with informational tools, such as viewer advisories and on-screen and encoded ratings, which will permit them to make informed choices. And those choices are likely to differ from home to home; such familial choices are, after all, very individualized matters.
