Child Sexual Abuse Within The United States Essay

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.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 3.3 million referrals for alleged maltreatment were made in 2013. Out of the 3.3 million referrals, 899,000 children were officially documented as being maltreated(Child Abuse & Neglect 2015). Child abuse is the mistreatment of a child. Child abuse is recognized in several forms; physical, emotional, sexual and neglect. Children who experience any form of abuse will tend to withdraw themselves from their peers and sometimes from other family members who are not aware of what is taking place. Child abuse occurs not just in the homes of these children, but can also occur in schools, churches and after school programs. Anywhere a child is present there is a chance that abuse can

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

Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses while each year in this country over 510,000 children are sexually assaulted(Oakes 99). The latter statistic, in its context, does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhood's destroyed, possibly on more than one occasion, and are faced with dealing with the assault for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their

An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse exist in America today (Darness2Light, 2009a ). This figure continues to grow daily as perpetrators of this crime continue in this destructive path. The definition of child sexual abuse is the force, coercion, or cajoling of children into sexual activities by a dominant adult or adolescent. Sexual abuse of children includes touching (physical) sexually including: fondling; penetration (vaginal or anal using fingers, foreign objects or offenders organs; oral sex, or non-physical contact including: sexual comments; indecent exposures; masturbating in a child’s presence; child prostitution or child pornography (Child Welfare, 2009a).

It 's difficult to comprehend that an adult, often a parent or caregiver, would intentionally hurt an infant or child. Yet nearly a million children are abused in the United States. Unfortunately that excludes children who 's incidents of child abuse are unreported and undetected. Child abuse can be defined differently from state to state, but commonly presents in the form of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, neglect and abandonment. The focus of this review is physical abuse, which is defined as non-accidental physical injury, from bruising to fractures to the most serious cases of abuse ending in death (Sink, Hyman, Matheny, Georgopoulos & Kleinman, 2010).

Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children. The amount of children abused is doubled due to the fact that a single report can include multiple children. The U.S has one of the worst records among industrialized nations, losing an average between four and seven children everyday to abuse and neglect. The sociological theories that can be used to research the issue of child abuse in the US are symbolic interactionism and the conflict theory.

Sexual abuse, specifically from a male, generates many negative consequences, especially to the victims involved. Male violence occurs all over the United States and has been steadily rising (Hooks 117). In Bell Hooks’ article, “Feminist Move to End Violence”, she discusses the reason why male violence is occurring. She explains, “While male supremacy encourages the use of abusive force to maintain male domination of women, it is the Western philosophical notion of hierarchical rule and coercive authority that is the root cause of violence against women, of adult violence against children, of all violence between those who dominate and those who are dominated” (Hooks 118). Due to the relevance of male violence today, feminist writers have been addressing this issue and its impact in their novels.

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is growing and becoming more prevalent around the world (Aspelmeier, Elliott, & Smith, 2007; Karakurt & Silver, 2014; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). As such, CSA acquired concern as being a serious problem in recent decades. CSA is any type of sexual relation with a child, who is unable to consent, through force, threat, or dishonesty to assure participation. Consequently, CSA associates with psychological difficulties, such as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Book Report: Identifying Child Molesters Carla van Dam states in Identifying Child Molesters, Preventing Child Sexual Abuse by Recognizing the Patterns of the Offenders that unlike how it currently is, the primary responsibility to prevent child sexual abuse should be placed on adults, rather than children. Child sexual abuse is the only child safety issue in which the main responsibility is placed on children. Adults take the main responsibility in child road safety, for example, by building cross walks, passing laws to make school buses that are unloading children illegal to pass, and holding children’s hands while crossing the street. It would make sense to establish similar boundaries and guidelines to prevent child sexual abuse. Children, comparably, are often unable to successfully put an end to their sexual abuse after it has already happened.

“Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children (A report can include multiple children). The United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations- loses on average between four to seven children every day due to child abuse and neglect” ("National Child Abuse Statistics."). There are numerous children who are suffering from child abuse, but determining what child abuse is for each state differs. This makes it harder to determine how to solve the issue of child abuse and the fact that it has existed for so long. To help solve the issue of child abuse, innovative programs are being created every day. Some of those programs are using culture to determine whether or not it is a factor.

Children will make mistakes, it’s apart of growing up and learning lessons, no one is perfect. We need to teach children that it is okay to mess up, it helps us learn from our mistakes. The last thing we want is having our own children afraid their parents. They should be able to trust their parents and know that they will care for them and love them. Physically punishing children makes it harder for kids to trust their parents, and it sends their stress levels through the roof knowing that they have to try and be perfect or else there will be a punishment. Children can be a blessing, but sometimes they can be a little too much to handle. When parents take the physical charge to hurt their children, people don’t know if they took it too far

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.

Sexual abuse of children damages them for them entire lifetimes and robs them of the full, comfortable relationships they should have as adults. However, given these differences, sexual abuses evokes similar responses in everyone because it is as aggressive and conceive abuses of power that is expensive as humiliating, degrading and destruction. One of the major achievements of the past quarter century has been the growing awareness of the prevalence and changing psychological consequences of the sexual abuse of children. The majority of perpetrators are someone the child or family knows. As many as 93% of victims under the age of 18 know the abuser. A perpetrator does not have to be an adult to harm a child. They can have any relationship to the child including an older sibling or playmate, family member, a teacher, a coach or instructor, a caretaker, or the parent of another child. According to 1 in 6, sexual abuse is the result of abusive behavior that takes advantage of a child’s vulnerability and is in no way related to the sexual orientation of the abusive person.”

Child abuse in the United States is a growing epidemic. Every year the number of reported cases, and missing children go up. This is caused mostly by lack of education about the different types of child abuse, and the signs that go along with it. Communities need to provide more resources to better educate the public about the types of abuse, and the signs that go along with it. Child abuse and neglect can be lessened by more resources, more education and to reach out to others.