Child Abuse

Child Abuse

The legal definitions of child abuse are an act or omission that endangers or impairs a child’s physical, mental or emotional health and development. Child abuse may take the form of physical or emotional injury, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, physical neglect, medical neglect, or inadequate supervision. Child neglect and child maltreatment refer to different forms of child abuse. Child abuse is sometimes defined as physical abuse by an act and relates to aggression acted out on a child that results in injuries often characterized by physical injury, such as bruises and fractures. This form of abuse has a defense based on the use of corporal punishment. Child neglect is a form of child abuse that involves a failure to act concerning provisions for care for a child. This is a passive form of abuse and is often characterized by issues such as a failure to provide medical services or nutrition. This form of abuse has a defense to the charge due to financial resources.
It is difficult to estimate the extent of child abuse because the maltreatment of children can easily be hidden from public view. Although state laws require doctors, teachers, and others who work with children to report suspected cases to child protection agencies, many maltreated children are out of the law’s reach because they are too young for school or too young to communicate. Some children are afraid to communicate. Many incidents occur in private and other adults who wittiness abuses consider it a family matter. Between 1.4 and 1.9 million children in the United States were subjected to physical abuse from their parents (Siegel, 2011, p. 183).
The cycle of violence is perpetuated by what is taught to the child. “Children who grow up in dysfunctional homes often exhibit delinquent behaviors, having learned at a young age that aggression pays off” (Siegel, 2011, p. 185). The statistics show that abused children have higher incidence of all of the factors that perpetuate child abuse such as divorce, family isolation and drug use. Some parents cannot separate their relationship with their offspring from the trauma of the abuse they survived. These factors help to pass the cycle of violence from one generation to another.
A high-risk environment for child abuse is created by many different factors. They include homes with drug and alcohol use, homes with a stepparent, homes where a parent was abused as a child and a low family socioeconomic status.
As a society we should merge the juvenile justice system with mental health resources to address the issues of child abuse and to better understand the relationship between abuse and delinquency. Investigations into abuse should be mandatory and combined with any status offense of runaway. The runaway is running away from some form of abuse. They are trying to escape and this is the only way some children can voice themselves. As a society, we should see that the return of a runaway should only be done after a proper mental evaluation and investigation of the parent or parents has been completed. If the child is returned then family therapy is a strong recommendation. A run- away child who has run away from their own family is doing so in an attempt for self-preservation. The failure of law enforcement to recognize this cry for help has placed many children in danger and caused them further victimization.

Bibliography
Siegel, L. J. (2011). Juvenile Delinquency. 20 Davis Drive, Belmont, CA 94002: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.