The scientific evidence about the effects of televised violence on children cannot clarify which path is the best for policy-makers to pursue to address the problems that research in this area has identified. That decision rests more in value judgments, based upon the relative importance that each of you place on protecting children’s health as contrasted with the other competing interests involved, such as freedom of speech concerns. But when you make that judgment – as each Member of this committee will eventually be called upon to do – it is critical that you understand that television violence harms large numbers of children in this country, and significantly increases violence in our society.