Child Maltreatment Theory Essay

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

“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.

Sexual abuse is a heinous act that causes extreme suffering for a victim while providing pleasure for a perpetrator. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, approximately 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls are abused sexually before the age of 18 (n.d.). The question of why an individual would commit such a heinous act has various answers, almost all of which depend on the background of the individual. A common speculation is that abusers themselves were once abused by someone else. This idea branches off of the Positivist Theory of crime. The theory basically states that prior influences or experiences in life will ultimately decide how people will act in the future (C. Bartol & A. Bartol, 2017). Their history of abuse influenced them to become abusers. While this may be one viable explanation to this behavior, there are many other answers that are just as feasible in explaining this behavior. This includes the topic of serious mental illnesses and other behavioral disorders. Regardless of background influences, the true intent of the abusive individuals may be almost impossible to draw out, especially since most guilty individuals want to escape from the consequences associated with the crime that they commit (Inbau, Reid, Buckley, & Jayne, 2013). Unless a perpetrator admits to committing the crime, piecing the story together and understanding the influences that played a role in the actions committed by them is more feasible in terms of learning the truth. Whatever the

As time progresses on, more reports of child sexual abuse (CSA) have been documented. According to Colangelo and Cooperman, CSA is defined as “the use of a child under 18 years of age as an object of gratification for adult sexual needs and desires.” Another definition of CSA is “sexual abuse [that] occurs whenever one person dominates and exploits another by means of sexual activity or suggestion.” (Hall, M., & Hall, J., 2011) it is difficult to

With the development of this theory by Ressler et al. (1988), it highlights numerous elements that form a serial sexual killer. Similarly, to Hickey’s trauma control model, Ressler et al (1988) acknowledges that an ineffective social environment exacerbates the child’s future. This is aimed at parents who do not provide appropriate emotional support or display little to no form of discipline. In addition to normative events such as illness, a child may be subject to non-normative crises such as child abuse; subsequently the child retreats into “Aggressive fantasies, aimed at achieving dominance and control” (p.71). A strength of the motivational model therefore, shows that even children who engage in ‘not-uncommon’ social processes. However, the weakness to this model is that it collapses when trying to explain serial killers who have had normal upbringings and a secure name in society. Both these theories highlight characteristics of a lust murderer, Peter Dupas is one of many killers who match this

One of the most common factors with child sex offenders is the act of “grooming”. Grooming is looked at as a process by which the offender commits acts, physical and verbal, to obtain trust and secrecy with the child to prepare for sexual abuse to occur (Williams et al., 2013, p. 135). These initial acts are intended to eventually build a relationship with the child that leads to sexual abuse., The offender will then maintain control of the victim through threats or intimidation to maintain secrecy of the relationship (Black et. Al., 2014, p.141). The offender uses grooming techniques for sexual desensitization (Bennett & O’Donohue, 2014, p. 957), such as hugs, kisses to the cheek, letting a hand linger on a leg, or statements of affection.

Child sexual abuse occurs in a variety of ways. While women are capable of sexually abusing children, research suggests that men are more likely to abuse (Crosson-Tower, 2014). Because society tends to overlook female perpetrators, these numbers may change in the future. Depending on whether the abuse is intrafamilial are extrafamilial, perpetrators have access to children in different ways.

The first category introduces one of the most common forms of female sexual predation. Mothers who abuse their children are typically the most common of female sexual offenders. They take advantage of any sexual situation and usually have a history of incestuous sexual victimization (Rufo, 2011). Children who are in an incestuous relationship with their mother are often pressured into the relation with the threat of having the family broken up or taken to a foster home. Because of this, therapists have a difficult time recognizing the signs of mother-child incestuous relationships because of the child’s fear of revealing the abuse (Rufo,

Child maltreatment is a widespread issue that affects thousands of children every year. There are four common types of child maltreatment; sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. All of these types of abuse are very serious and can have many consequences for the children and families. The most common consequence of severe child maltreatment is the removal of that child from their home (Benbenishty, Segev, Surkis, and Elias, 2002). Most social workers trying to determine the likelihood of removal evaluate the type and severity of abuse, as well as the child’s relationship with their parents (Benbenishty et al., 2002). When children are removed from their homes there are many options of alternative housing. The

     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)

Another one of these theories is that physical and sexual abuse was found in the childhood histories of many rapists. Another theory looks at a study by Malamuth, which came up with six "predictor factors" for sexual aggression, "dominance as a sexual motive, hostility toward women, attitudes, facilitating violence, antisocial characteristics/psychoticism, and sexual experience." (Hollin, p. 44) Malamuth found that these factors were successful in predicting sexual violence and bringing these factors in with interactions with the predictor increased its success even more.

For instance, a man by the name of Warren Earl Yerger Sr. was prosecuted for reoccurring crimes similar, if not worse than, said above scenario. He has completely changed the lives of his four victims, two of which opting to not appear in court, and one of them not even sending a statement. He forced these once innocent children to repeatedly perform degrading sexual acts, sometimes with the forced help of his wife, Leslie Yerger. According to its citizens, it is the “’worst’ child sexual abuse case in Chesco” (Rellahan). In the testimonies of the three present victims, we can see that they have all changed psychologically. For example, the testimony given by the youngest of the victims, stated that she was, “deeply deprived of the childhood [she] was supposed to have.” (Rellahan), and would, “cry [her]self to sleep every night.” (Rellahan) As clearly demonstrated by this individual, abuse has the potential to completely change the demeanor of any person. Although this specific change is psychological, it is just one example of the horrifying potential that abuse can have on its victims. Not all effects of abuse are purely psychological, though, as illustrated by a child with a gut-wrenching personal

Retrieved from A Child Sexual Abuse Research Project: A Brief Endnote … (n.d.). http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10538712.2014.934416. June 2016

In today’s society, child abuse is widespread and has an affect on everyone who comes across it. The act of child abuse happens everyday to a variety of kids who are typically younger and scared to tell anyone. All children are born with the right to be able to develop, grow, live and love according to their needs and feelings. For a child 's development they need protection and reassurance from adults who love them and help them acquire the skills to be a successful adult. However, some children are neglected and hurt by adults that they trust. The abuse a child receives makes them feel bad about themselves, and it is much worse when it occurs within a family because it makes them feel unloved and alone causing them to have problems. “Abuse of all types was more frequent in those from disturbed and disrupted family backgrounds. Logistic regressions indicated that some, though not all, of the apparent associations between abuse and adult problems was accounted for by this matrix of childhood disadvantage from which abuse so often emerged. Numerous studies have investigated the psychological sequelae of childhood trauma, including posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD), dissociation, personality disorder, and substance abuse ”(“New Retrospective Measure of Child Abuse and Neglect” by David P. Bernstein). The act of child abuse causes kids to have one or more mental problems. Additionally, since people do not recognize the abuse while it is occurring, it causes these problems to

This paper will mainly discuss sexual crimes. It will explain the differences about various sexual crimes. It will also go into detail about sexual crimes that revolve around men, women, and children. It will also talk about the history of sex crimes, along with some of the different types of sexual crimes committed. This paper will provide explanations as to what these sexual crimes are in their nature. Sexual offenses are serious crimes that occur more than that should. There are a wide range of victims from male and female children to male and female teens to young adults attending college to adults. Many people have to deal with the results of these sexual offenses. This paper will also discuss the transition of child sexual assault