Family Feuds

Private violence goes public

President Reagan took a step toward drawing domestic violence out of the shadows last week. He appointed a task force to study how government can help allay what he called "the darker side to family life in America." The nine-member panel, headed by Detroit Police Chief William Hart, will hold hearings across the country starting in November and submit a report on how federal and state governments should cope with spouse and child abuse as well as mistreatment of the elderly. The announcement marked a change in policy for the Federal Government, which had traditionally left such abuses to local agencies.

"The incalculable costs of these crimes in physical and emotional suffering, ruined lives and future crimes are intolerable in our civilized society," said Attorney General William French Smith, whose Justice Department will oversee the work of the task force. "The Federal Government must now take a leading role."

Conservative groups were dismayed by what they called encroaching federal intervention in the family domain. But organizations involved with victims of domestic crime hailed the news. Said Janice Moore, a staffer at a Washington shelter for battered women: "You can't keep hiding these problems behind the family flag." ·