Violence

Abuse of children and adolescents has often been described as a hidden problem.  For a number of reasons -- including fear of retaliation and other consequences among kids themselves, families' wishes to keep their business private and a belief that the authorities just don't care -- violent crimes against children are less likely to be reported than crimes against adults. This remains the case, researchers said Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine . But there's good news too: Violent incidents are significantly more likely to get reported today than they were in 1992.

Quentin Tarantino has been getting asked a lot about the link between movie violence and real-life violence lately, especially since his new film "Django Unchained" features an over-the-top massacre. But, he finally lost it when a British TV interviewer attempted to broach the subject recently. The director appeared on Britain's Channel 4 this week with interviewer Krishnan Guru-Murthy to discuss his latest film. Though Tarantino was happy to discuss the picture's brutal look at slavery in America's past (a topic he bragged he single-handedly brought back into the national discussion)

Re "Another, Closer War," editorial, Oct. 7: Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, the nation seems to have noticed violence at a greater level. On the other hand, there is violence here in our own backyard that hurts families and takes the lives of the innocent. Yet we do nothing to prevent the violence or help poor communities with gang problems. Maria Gallo Reseda

Re "Stop the Violence; Kids Are Watching" (Orange County commentary, Dec. 16): If the ability to analyze issues and make crucial distinctions before drawing conclusions is the mark of an educated mind, then Adrienne Hurley needs to go back to Logic 101. 1. Hurley states that violence doesn't solve anything. Really? European nations invaded or threatened by Hitler might want to disagree. And surely the survivors of the Holocaust would protest that holding hands with a fine gentleman such as Hitler and singing "Kumbaya" just wouldn't have accomplished what warfare did. 2. Having taught university students at all levels, I would expect that freshmen and sophomores might not yet see the distinction between the deliberate murder of civilians on one hand and civilian casualties as the unintended consequences of war on the other.

Oh, great TV moguls, each season you dose us with guns, death, rape, dismemberment, mauling. Although you seek top ratings, I guess you don't see them. The Top 20 shows are consistently without violence. Carter Darnell, La Jolla

Gunmen killed four more people, including a police officer, pushing the death toll from mounting violence to 80 in 12 days, police said Monday. More than 650 people have been killed this year in Karachi, where sectarian, ethnic and factional feuding has spun out of control.

I wish to take issue with the following statement that appeared in Sean Mitchell's commentary on May 1: " 'Violence' itself in movies is not the problem, and shouldn't be the issue. Drama is conflict, and violence is conflict writ large." I fear this is backward, and it explains the often gratuitous violence in many films. Conflict is the result of: 1. a person wanting something very dearly, a goal that, 2. for very good reasons we, the audience, all understand, believe in and care about, 3. but this person must face opposing forces--man, animal or nature--that defy them in reaching this goal.

His left eye still swollen shut, Vashion Bullock doesn't deny fighting in the melee that claimed a Chicago high school student's life last month. He's watched the grainy cellphone video and seen himself standing shirtless in the middle of the mob. But to him, the footage is a 2 1/2 -minute clip of his world without context, broadcast endlessly on television and the Web. This mob included students who made the honor roll, held after-school jobs, played sports and planned for college.