The long-running controversy over what effect on-screen violence has on the viewer's own propensity for violence got another jolt last week, when two economists published research results that assert a negative correlation between movie violence and the real thing.

At the annual meeting of the American Economic Association, Prof. Gordon Dahl of the University of California, San Diego, and co-author Stefano DellaVigna of the University of California, Berkeley, presented research documenting a decline in assaults specifically in those areas where violent films are being shown. Their research points to a decline of 1,000 per weekend, or 52,000 per year, in assaults.

Dahl and DellaVigna traced crime figures in communities showing violent films in the days and weeks following showing, then compared those figures to the rest of the year. They found no spike in incidence of violent crime even weeks after violent films were screened. "From 6 p.m. to midnight on weekends -- when the largest numbers of people are in theaters -- violent crimes decreased 1.3 percent for every million people watching a strongly violent movie, the study found," reports The New York Times. "Violent crimes dropped 1.1 percent for every million seeing a mildly violent film." Those figures dropped further in the hours following the theaters' closing for the night.

One interesting possibility Dahl raises: Those who are watching violent films at the theater on a Friday night aren't engaging in behavior likely to lead to violence, such as drinking alcohol or using drugs.

The new research seems at odds with a growing body of evidence that shows a strong link between onscreen violence and a desensitization toward real violence, among other negative effects. Prof. Dahl was quick to point out that their research did not contradict those findings; rather, it addressed more specifically the immediate effects, on a broader social level, of showing violent movies at local theaters. Left unaddressed by this study, Prof. Dahl noted, are the long-term effects of viewing on-screen violence, or the specific brain responses involved in individual viewers.
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