Abnormality In Childhood

The same psychiatrist, Johnathan H. Pincus examined 14 other death row inmates who had murdered when they were under the age of 18 and realized that they all had the same factors of neurologic damage, abuse, and paranoid thinking (Pincus, 29). A study done by Lisa Marshall and David Cooke shows the differences between the childhoods of psychopath criminals and non-psychopath criminals. They used the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised and the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse to show how much the environment your surrounded with as a child can affect your adult life. Not only did they study the results of familial childhood factors such as neglect, physical abuse, and psychological abuse but they also looked into societal factors such as negative school experience and negative school performance. Results showed that “Inadequate or incompetent parenting leads to insecure attachment bonding that forecasts low levels of empathy, compliance, cooperation and self control.” (Lykken,199). The most obvious differences in the childhoods of psychopath criminals and non-psychopath criminals were in parental discipline, parental neglect, and negative school performance. (Marshall and Cooke, The Childhood experiences of psychopaths). Another environmental factor that should

1. Your uncle consumes a quart of whiskey per day; he has trouble remembering the names of those around him.

Children who have been abused are left with more than just physical scars. They have many psychological, emotional, and behavioral problems as well. Their social lives are affected dramatically, and they suffer lifelong effects. (Lambert) Children tend to

Many children are victims of violence; this violence may be physical, or emotional, direct or indirect. In certain situations, the child’s experience

Protecting children from maltreatment also preventing impairment of children’s health or development. This ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care. Taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.

There has been an enormous amount of research, going back almost thirty years, about the relationship between childhood trauma, and juvenile delinquency. Many researches cannot say that there is a direct link between the two, but after much research, researches have found that childhood trauma can perhaps be a predictor for juveniles who later in life commit crimes. Trauma is defined as, “a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury,” because the definition is broad and can range from a variety of different events, for the purpose of this paper, the focus will be on neglect trauma in juveniles (Trauma, 2016). Neglect according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is, “the failure of a parent or other person with the responsibility for the child to provide needed food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision such that the child’s health, safety and well-being are threatened with harm” (Kazemian, 2011).

Leaving children in an environment that puts them at risk for social emotional developmental problems has become a controversial issue among child protection workers. In cases where children witness violence there is no proof that they will all turn out to be resilient rather the children will be affected. Although resiliency does exist and a number of children who witness IPV have been able to develop without severe emotional problems that affect them directly however they may lead to the internalizing of problems (Holmes,

A child’s sense of self as separate from the world is formulated early in development. Children exposed to early trauma, especially by a primary care giver, develop a distorted sense of the self, others, and the world. When exposed to trauma, children become overwhelmed and are unable to effectively self-regulate thus leading to a disjointed sense of self. They have a tendency to lose hope and expect that life will be dangerous thus challenging their ability to survive (Terr, 1992). Survival becomes the predominant drive for children exposed to trauma and their focus becomes toward responding and adapting to a potentially threatening environment. Feelings of trust and the sense of self become compromised as resources are allocated toward coping with threats. Traumatized children experience guilt and low self-esteem and perceive themselves as unlovable and unworthy of protection or love (Johnson, 1985, 1987).

I was reading about that in Dear Abby. Where are those children today? Are they serial killers? Or are they police chiefs and mayors and aldermen and assemblymen? I'm saying that there are periods when kids go through very violent development and into, I mean potentially violent, they break things, they steal things, they lie, they go through these changes. I've had these people, one or two doctors in particular that I won't go into, who very casually just slapped all these assignations on here and said, ‘well of course, if you run into a kid that's doing this kind of thing, you got a developing serial killer. You better put him in treatment real quick and save his life.’ Right? To a point, I agree with them,” (“Ed Kemper - Extended Interview 1991”).

Brain plasticity is significant in criminal research and crime prevention methods because it shows that certain experiences in the first three to four years of life are significant in the prevention of antisocial behavior and persistent, criminal behavior throughout life. The fact that the brain has plasticity shows that early deprivation and harm can be treated and modified during later years, even in adults. Plasticity is such a crucial concept when it comes to understanding the effects of maltreatment on the brain, especially during infancy and early childhood. By analyzing developmental plasticity, researchers can find evidence for altered brain functioning as a result of early abuse and neglect. Plasticity is proof that our brains are much more easily shaped and molded by the outside world than we

& Li, 2001). With the brain developing at its fastest rate in childhood, it is especially

Brooke Hampton, an author, once said, “Speak to your children as if they are the wisest, kindest, most beautiful and magical humans on earth, for what they believe is what they will become.” When a precious newborn baby is born the parent’s duty are to love, protect, cherish, nurture, and to give their child encouragement to chase their desires, dreams, and aspirations. It has often been proven a child who is raised in a stable home environment will have less anxiety and a higher threshold of security, but what happens when a child is neglected, abused, abandoned, or forced to live a traumatic experience that will haunt their dreams for

Trauma is very complex and varied in its nature. Traumatic events include child abuse, neglect and maltreatment. Wamser‐Nanney & Vandenberg (2013) found that one of the more harmful types of trauma is the abuse is committed intentionally. This directly impacts the victim 's safety and sense of trust. The devastating effects of this type of trauma is the way in which it impacts not only the survivors, but also future generations, and the ability they have to form attachments (Connolly, 2011).

Every year, child abuse and neglect affect more than one million children nation-wide (Currie and Tekin 1). Along with this, child abuse is the source of severe injury to more than 500,000 children and the death of over 1,500 children (Currie and Tekin 1). These outrageously large numbers reveal the extent to which child abuse and neglect impact society; however, they do not acknowledge the effect abuse can have on a child’s life and the repercussions that may occur in both the individual’s childhood and adulthood. While the effects most certainly include physical pain and possibly future disabilities, child abuse and neglect can also affects the child’s psychological welfare. Psychological effects are often more difficult to recognize,

In the United States, approximately 78 % of the allegations reported to child protection involve neglect; as compared with 18 % for physical abuse, 10 % for sexual abuse and 8 % for psychological/emotional maltreatment (Ryan, Joseph P) These high rates of abuse and neglect are often the beginning reasons why individuals at such a young age run into the issues they do in their growing up stages of life. Having such traumatic events happen to someone so young causes developmental problems. Behavior or injustices learned at such a young age are often reinitiated in the child’s behavior because it is all they know. When a child acts out in a negative or non-societal manner they then get punished or other punishments are handed down to them. Their behaviors and opinions merely mirror what they have been taught. They then began acting out because what they were taught to do, and how they were taught to act is getting them in more in trouble and it leads to continual behavior problems. I speak from first hand knowledge while working at the Humboldt County Juvenile Detention Facility for 6 months as a Correctional Officer and it became evident these kids didn’t know why they were in there and rather than rehabilitate they were punished and given no guidance. That in it self is neglect and abuse. The monitoring or supervising of a child is contributory to their advancement towards offending. (Ryan, Joseph P) As children grow older and as the time increment of