Kimberly, with all due respect, if I may...

All images are neither dead nor alive.  V4 is neither dead nor alive.  Its just polygons and pixels.

Personally, if the image portrays or suggests violence to another then to me, that is violent. 

In the above example, I agree with the original poster.  The first image shows violence.  A gunshot, blood, clawing and scratching, struggle, and if it were real, it would be very violent. 

The second image is just a character in distress.  So I don't see it as violent.

I think 16 years ago or so when PFO became Rendo, the word Violence meant something different.  Today, we might or might not say cruelty to animals is violant because an animal is not a person, but most folks find that thought (and images of the same) to be quite disturbing.  Maybe "disturbing" is the new word?  Of course, that is also a quagmire because what is disturbing to one person is not to another.

Used to also be a phrase "shocks the conscience" but that also today has shifted depending on the person viewing the "shocking" event.

Good luck with this.  Its not an easy line to draw or understand.  I tried with the Poser challenge and didn't get it right.

Personally, I think the original poster got it right.  Image 1 = no.  Image 2 = OK.

Just my two cents.

Eric