Should Children Be Allowed To Get An Unfair Punishment

“ The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) … defines child abuse and neglect as, at minimum: "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."” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and Administration for Children & Families, "Definitions of Child Abuse

abuse or suspected abuse of vulnerable individuals is mandated to be reported in most states

Child abuse is epidemic in many countries as well as the United States. It is estimated that every thirteen seconds a child is abused in some manner: physically, sexually, emotionally or by neglect (Friedman). Each year, there are over 3 million reports of child abuse in the United States involving more than 6 million children. Child abuse can be reduced with proper education of the parents and with greater public awareness.

If the offender has a standard offense of abuse or neglect, it will be classified as a Class C felony and they will serve their sentence for at least one year before being eligible for parole or probation. If the offender has multiple offenses, they will not become eligible for at least five years. In the worst case scenario where the child dies, the offense will become a Class A felony and the offender will not be able to get parole or probation for at least 15 years of serving their sentence. It also becomes a Class A felony if there is serious emotional or physical injury, the child is less than 14 years of age, and the injury is the result of sexual abuse. (Missouri General Assembly,

Defining child abuse is a complicated issue. First, currently the United States does not have a standard definition of child abuse because each state has their definition. Definitions are different at the state and federal level. Child welfare agencies also may have different child abuse and neglect definitions. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) define child abuse and neglect as any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker that result in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation; an act or failure to act that presents an imminent risk of serious harm (Child Abuse and Neglect User Manual, 2003;

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

Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, through action or failure to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child. According to The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, as amended by the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010, at a minimum, child abuse and neglect is defined 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 (Children 's Bureau, 2010)." The law recognizes a child as being any person who is under the age of 18. The law is broken into 2 sections, and each section treats the idea of child maltreatment in different ways. Criminally, those who abuse children are able to be arrested and prosecuted in court. Civil statutes say that people who suspect a child of being abused are mandated to identify and report it.

Parents and other trusted caregivers have been abusing and neglecting children, likely since the early days of man. However, over the past half-century, the United States government has encouraged state governments to focus more efforts on child welfare. The Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act defined the term ?child abuse and neglect? as meaning, at a minimum:

Westat found that professionals failed to report many of the children they saw who had signs of child abuse and neglect. It found that in 1986, 56 percent of apparently abused or neglected children, or about 500,000 children, were not reported to the authorities. This figure, however, seems more alarming than it is: Basically, the more serious the case, the more likely the report. For example, the surveyed professionals reported over 85 percent of the fatal or serious physical abuse cases they saw, 72 percent of the sexual abuse cases, and 60 percent of the moderate physical abuse cases. They only reported 15 percent of the educational neglect cases they saw, 24 percent of the emotional neglect cases, and 25 percent of the moderate physical neglect cases.

Under and over reporting is of equal concern because both affect the number of child abuse victims who are in need of help. “Failure to report exposes children to serious injury or even death and over reporting diverts resources from understaffed agencies, thus limiting their ability their ability to protect children in real danger” (Loseke, 285). Another issue is when to decide whether signs of abuse are actual signs of child abuse or just everyday injuries child usually inflict on themselves. Furthermore, this can also impact the whether a person will report the incident or not. For example, two people can see the same incident and depending on their knowledge of child abuse they can, either report it or determine it is not abuse. “A study of non-reporting among teachers, blamed their lack of knowledge for detecting symptoms of child abuse and neglect” (Loseke, 292).

Is it ethical then to punish people who commit sexual abuse against children? Or should our approach be treatment not punishment? This is an age old debate, while there have been attempts to treat the 'disease' of pedophilia, there are exceptions to this treatment whom despite it do reoffend. Counseling, monitoring, medicating, and even chemical castration are some ways our society has developed to "treat" the biological and psychological side of the argument

Not all cases of child abuse are reported. Reports from North Carolina and Colorado estimate that 50 to 60 percent of child fatalities are not reported as child abuse. Some of the children 's deaths could have been labeled accidental or as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), but these deaths could have actually resulted from child abuse. (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2004).

The physical sexual abuse of children is a sex crime that carries severe penalties by law. Additionally, a note should be made that over 75% of serial rapists report they were sexually abused as youngsters (Darkness2Light, 2009d). But even though there may be an overstatement of child physical sexual abuse (CPSA), its impact can cause severe psychological, and behavioral problems that threatens the family unit and society in general.

children are confirmed each year as victims of child abuse and neglect by state child

Examples of this are having sex with children who are not of age, touching children inappropriately, who are not of age and child pornography. This is the most severe philia in my opinion and it holds great consequences. One can be charged with numerous CSC charges, spend life on the sex offenders list, go to prison for many years, or even be killed because they are a pedophile. Today, there are roughly 400,000 registered sex offenders in the united states (80-100,000 are unregistered). And 89% of child sexual assault cases involve people known to the child. My opinion is that these people need to be locked up for max sentences according to the law, not life in prison as some would want. These people commit horrible crimes to young children and need to pay for the physical and emotional damage that has left children scarred for life.