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Child Abuse and Molestation
By
Elaine Outar
English IV Honors
Mr. Wilson
Period 6
March 14, 2017
“I carried this with me for decades. And then I decided to become a Warrior instead of a victim statistic. I broke the cycle” (Unknown). Child abuse is the harming of a child that causes extreme injury, emotional instability, or even death. Neglect is a form of child abuse where a parent does not provide the proper care that a child needs to successfully grow and develop. Child molestation is another form of child abuse, and involves an adult or older adolescent using a child for their own sexual pleasure. There are thousands of cases being reported every year. However, we may never know the exact number of cases.
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It is indeed heinous to hear an innocent child cry out and that person continues to harm. All child molesters, and abusers need to have severe punishments, and to be off of the street. Children who get molested and/or abused, suffer from long term problems that include depression, and trouble forming relationships. This tragic incident can also take years to get over, if not, haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Today, convictions of child molestation can already be severe. This depends on the state. According to “Criminal Defense Lawyer” (NOLO), in Georgia, a person accused of molesting a child can have a sentence of 5 to 25 years for their first offense. Any other similar crimes committed by the same criminal, can cause them to have a sentence of 10 years to life. The penal code for any libidinous acts with a child 14 years of age and younger, in California, includes a sentence of up to 8 years, for each felony count against that person. Every separate act is its own felony charge. Also, any sexual intercourse with someone under the age of 10, will be punished with a sentence of up to 25 years to years. In Ohio, any who rapes a child under the age of 13 is to have time in prison, or a life sentence, even if the person did not know the child’s correct age. Child sexual abusers will also have to register themselves as a sex offender. This includes, the person’s name, and location. Anyone will be able to look this information up.
Of the many problems faced by children and adolescents, few provoke such moral outrage as childhood sexual abuse. Many times, as on the television show “To Catch a Predator”, such abuse can be inflicted by strangers who may gradually become familiar with the child online. Sadly, however, often times the perpetrator of sexual abuse on children is someone much more familiar to the child- someone the child may even love.
A type of child abuse is Physical abuse, this refers to a violent interaction with a child a parent's in which the parent inflicts bodily harm on to their child. Emotional abuse is abuse in which parents hurt their child’s feeling of rejection, abandonment, belittlement, name-calling, threatening, isolation or exploitation their child. Sexual abuse is when a child has exposed sex-related talk to sex-related actions that inflict some sort of harm on to a child. Neglect is another form of abuse where parents fail to care for their child’s basic needs, fail to provide a decent standard of living for their child and safety.
Child abuse is an issue within society that effects the lives of not only the victims but also the lives of many people in the social order. Child abuse is any mistreatment or neglect of a child that results in non-accidental injury or harm and which cannot be logically explained. There are several forms of abuse and neglect and many state governments have developed their own legal description of what constitutes child maltreatment for the purposes of removing a child and prosecuting a criminal charge. Child abuse consists of different forms of harm including physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect.
“The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act” states’ that “child abuse is the leading cause of death in children under the age of eighteen.” Child abuse occurs when adults inflict violence and cruelty upon children. Abuse is any willful act that results in physical, mental, or sexual injury that causes or is likely to cause the child to be physically, mental, or emotionally impaired. Abuse happens to children of any age, sex, race, religion, and social status.
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. There are four major categories: neglect, physical abuse, psychological/emotional abuse, and child sexual abuse (Levi, Lo, Selby, and Vandenburg). Neglect is a passive form of abuse in which a perpetrator is responsible to
Do you know the difference between child abuse and discipline? Child Abuse is when someone physically and mentally hurts another person. Discipline is teaching someone or something to do the right thing. Child Abuse is very common in the United States. Many children suffer from bruising, swelling skin, and broken bones. Situations like this happen because of problems at home or personal problems. Parents at home abuse their children because of drinking and depression issues. In this crazy world, there are numerous types of abuses. There is sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, and emotional or psychological abuse. Sexual abuse is an intentional incident that involves sexual relationship to a child using all their power and taking advantage of them. According to Family & Community Services, Physical abuse is a nonstop injury that happens more than one time. Neglect is a type of abuse you just don’t care or pay no attention to your child. Emotional or psychological harm is when you make your children think something that isn’t true. Discipline children usually do the things their parents or guardian tell them what to do because they teach them to pay attention and be polite.
What is child abuse? From the word “abuse” we can understand that it is some sort of a maltreatment of a child, causing harm and damage both to his physical and psychological well-being. At the Federal level, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) describes child abuse and neglect as: “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.” Child abuse is a very substantial and widely spread problem in U.S. affecting children of any age, gender, race, background or income, with more than 1.8 million investigations done every year and on average, killing more than 5 children every day. The main issue of child abuse is that the abuser is usually someone a child loves or depends on (a parent, sibling, coach, neighbor, etc.), who violates child’s trust putting personal interests first, therefore official numbers of how many children suffer maltreatment might be not accurate enough as remarkable amount of these cases go unreported. Each case of child abuse is unique, with a lot of individual factors involved, nevertheless, we can distinguish some of the common causes, such as poverty, lack of education, depression, mental or physical health
The term child abuse was once as rarely heard as that of pink elephants. However rare the term has once been, it is now a term used consistently throughout the news and various other publications today. Along with the progressing decline in society's morals, has come the rapid increase of crime. One such crime is child abuse. Although child abuse is common, the act is defiling. As a result of the abuse, children who fall victim to this often need psychological treatment and counseling. Often, the child is never the same as he or she once was before. The dictionary defines child abuse as: "the physical, or emotional, or sexual mistreatment of children" (Dictionary.com). Everyday thousands of children are the victims of this abuse.
The current problem is the continued rise in child abuse and neglect today. Within the United States, the problem of child abuse and neglect is far much common than most people would like to admit. Sanchez (2012) stated that child maltreatment is a global epidemic and a major social problem in the United States resulting in at least 740, 000 visits to hospital emergency departments and more than $124 in child welfare, criminal justice, and health care. Norman, Byambaa, De, Butchart, Scott, and Vos (2012) also observed that child abuse and neglect is a global problem that is mostly perpetrated by parental guardians and parents. Sexual abuse is the infringement of a child’s
Unspoken topics often hold the greatest weight and the biggest unsolved problems. In the United States, 100,000 to 500,000 innocent children are sexually abused each year (XXX) . This forbidden, not to mention illegal act, is known as child molestation. Child molestation is one of the most horrendous crimes one could commit, so much that when an offender is jailed, he/she is either gang-raped, beaten, or murdered. Sexual abuse of a child destroys their mind and innocence. This crime is so heinous that in many large cities special forces are created solely for these crimes and other sexual offenses.
Cohen, Seghorn, and Calmas (1969) described three types of child molesters derived from their clinical studies. One type had a history of relatively normal functioning and the incident of molestation appears to reflect a reaction to a severe threat to their sense of sexual adequacy. Another type had a history of poor social-sexual functioning and is regarded as primitive and immature in terms of social-sexual skills. The last type they found in their study had offenses involving cruel and vicious assaults on children and the act of molestation is regarded as more aggressive then sexual. (Mc Creary, 1975)
INTRODUCTION: “Child Abuse occurs when a parent or a care taker physically, emotionally, or sexually mistreats or neglects a child resulting in the physical, emotional, or sexual harm or imminent risk of harm or exploitation, or in extreme cases the death of a child,” child abuse is a big deal because in today’s society many children face abuse, there are many effects and reasons as to why a child may be abuse.
Child sexual abuse has been reported up to 80,000 times a year, but the number of unreported instances is far greater, because the children are afraid to tell anyone what has happened (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry). Childhood sexual abuse is a traumatic experience affecting the lives of not only the victim, but those close to the victim as well. Many think there is only one person truly traumatized, but in fact, everyone involved is affected. The victim has to deal with their experience the rest of their lives. They may be more at risk for other mental issues as well, including depression. The family involved has to deal with its pain, often causing hardship and discord within the family. This is especially true
Sexual abuse to children happens across every socioeconomic status, ethnic, cultural, religion and education. Getting treatment for a victim of child sexual abuse is a difficult process because of the lack of trust by the child. When child sexual abuse occurs the victim’s family has a difficult time talking about the abuse, which leads to the family pretending the abuse never happened. Once the family
The issue of child abuse and neglect is serious, controversial, and is escalating in today’s society. Many people are not aware, but child abuse is rampant in our society. Many child abuse and neglect cases go unreported because a person may not know the signs and symptoms of child abuse and neglect or perhaps the person or person may feel that this is an private issue and needs to be handle with in the home and no outsiders should be involved. Without the proper awareness of child abuse and neglect and the involvement of everyone this issue will continue to raise our eyebrows.