Week 2 Course Project Due: July 27, 2014 Student: Neelam

Week 2 Course Project Due: July 27, 2014 Student: Neelam

This paper will be about a particular crime and how the criminal justice system has responded towards it. The topic of crime will be child abuse and neglect. This paper will have present relevant statistics on child abuse and neglect. Child abuse and neglect has been an issue for years and years, but yet we are still not able to solve the problem. There are children who are physically, emotionally, and sexually abused, along with being neglected.

These innocent children do not deserve such treatment. The parents might not have ever wanted children to begin with. Their children might be smarter than they were, or they never thought of the work it takes to care for child. The parents might be alcoholics or drug users and they take out their frustration on their innocent children. The parents or guardians might have been sexually or physically abused when they were kids and this is all they know.

As you can see, my paper will be on all aspects of abuse and neglect. There will be many excuses some will use and unfortunately, that’s all it is, an excuse. Too many children are dying or disappearing because the parents cannot hack it. We need to find ways to protect abused and neglected children. Everyone needs to be aware of the signs, symptoms, and how the child may act.

Children deserve to be able to live free and happy, but this is not always the case. Many children are abused in some fashion, whether it’s physical, emotional, and sexual also being neglected in some way. The person who abuses the child is sometimes very near and dear, as in a parent, a family member, teacher, babysitter, boy/girlfriend and maybe a stranger too. My paper will be on three parts of abuse: physical, emotional, and sexual. Neglect of a child will also be explained.

I will define all reasons and the signs and symptoms to look for. Another section will be on how you report the person doing the abuse and also how to handle when a child gets the courage to let someone know. The last part will be on how you can help prevent child abuse in the future. Child abuse should not be taken lightly. As you read on you will understand why and how this occurs.

The abuse may be “a slap, a harsh comment, stony silence, or not knowing if there will be dinner on the table” (Smith & Segal, 2014) either way it’s harmful for the child. According to the statistics in 2012, there were over 500,000 reports of neglect which is over "78.3%, 183% is physical abuse, 9.3% is sexual abuse, and 2.3% is medical neglect" (National Child Abuse Statistics). All of these are collected from 2012. In California in 2012, "76,026 children were abused, 65,900 are from neglect, 7,424 children suffered from physical abuse, 4,240 suffered from sexual abuse, making a total of 91,574 children maltreated in total" (Child Abuse Facts). These numbers are entirely too high for young, innocent children who do not have a say so or the power to make anything stop.

With the criminal justice system, it seems towards the adults who are abusing these children they are lenient. The parents or caregivers say its not their fault or someone else did it. When law enforcement does their investigations, they are going by what they are told and if there are any witnesses on the matter. It would depend on whether the child is alive, has marks, or died while in the care of the parents due to suspicious activities. An example I would use is the Casey Anthony case.

Clearly she murdered her own child but due to evidence and what the jury had to take into consideration. For them, there was no solid evidence linking her to the crime but it ended with an innocent little girl dying and she had no control. The Criminal Justice system needs to be more detailed and specific. If they need to remove the child or children from the home for a long amount of time so they can make sure they are safe, so be it. An actual incident, which occurred this year, was with a 12-year-old girl.

A couple from Queens has been charged not only from beating her but also starving her for over a year. The girl weighed only 58 pounds. "Her father and stepmother locked her in her bedroom without food or water for extended periods and forced her to take beatings in cold showers, according to a news release from the office of the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown" (Southall & Rosen, 2014). Between December 2012 and July 2013, she was kicked, had a baseball bat hit to her, rolled in a rolling pin, and suffered a broken metal broom. When medical personnel arrived, she was covered in her own blood, and the metal handle went right through her tendons to her left wrist, which meant she was going to require surgery.

The girl said she never said anything because she was afraid her brothers and sisters would be taken away and she did not want that. The authorities had to jump in; otherwise, this girl’s next event would have ended in her tragic death. "Her father, Rajesh Ranot, 46, and stepmother, Sheetal Ranot, 31, were charged with assault and child endangerment. Mr. Ranot was also charged with unlawful imprisonment" (Southall & Rosen, 2014). Rajesh had a bail of $25,000 and Sheetal was $60,000. To me, this is an example of how the criminal justice system should have them both the same and a higher bail for each. This is just one example of many, many other reports and events of child abuse and neglect. These types of people should be punished with the same affection they chose to show their children. This can show the parents what it feels like to be in the shoes of the child.

This little girl was lucky she was alive but if the proper authorities did not intervene, we would have seen a picture of this 12-year-old dead by her parents. She was lucky but there are many we have not been able to help out. In conclusion, we can clearly see child abuse and neglect is a problem, it has been and still is. The criminal justice system needs to lay down the hammer and be more strict and harsh. I feel the present way the system works is not right.

If they do not have enough evidence, proof or witness what happens? We send the abused right back to the abuser and they become more careful on how they treat them. By this, I mean they begin to know how and where to hit which leaves no mark, and might actually threaten them more. It is a sad world out there.

References

  • Child Abuse Facts. (n.d.). Safe Horizon. Retrieved from [URL]
  • Child Abuse & Neglect. (n.d.). Child Welfare Information Gateway. Retrieved from [URL]
  • Definitions of Abuse. (n.d.). The center for the prevention of child abuse. Retrieved from [URL]
  • Hess, K.M., & Orthmann, C.M. (2010). Juvenile justice (5th Ed.). Australia: Cengage Learning/Wadsworth.
  • How We Do It. (2014). My Stuff Bags Foundation New Beginnings for Children in Crisis Who We Serve Comments.
  • National Child Abuse Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from [URL]
  • Orthmann, C.H., & Hess, K.M. (2013). Criminal investigation (10th Ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.
  • “Volunteer Your Time to Change a Child’s Life”. About us - National CASA. N.p., n.d. Retrieved from [URL]
  • Smith, M., & Segal, J. (2014, February 1). Child Abuse & Neglect: Recognizing, Preventing and Reporting Child Abuse. Help Guide. Retrieved from [URL]
  • Southall, A., & Rosen, K. (2014, August 5). Queens Couple Are Charged in Severe Abuse of Daughter. Retrieved from [URL]

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