I need an abstract for the attached document. This is a capstone project on Child Abuse : Healing and Justice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victims of Child Abuse: Healing and Justice

Heather Hambleton

Criminal Justice Capstone

Unit 3

Capella University

January 29, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

                Human psychology exhibits both good and bad behaviors by nature but the civilized human beings and societies have realized the consequences of the bad behaviors on the personal, social and psychological levels. Thus, they have evolved the parameters of spending a peaceful life through legal and social standards. These standards are somehow common in all known societies under the interdisciplinary knowledge. Child abuse is a type of maltreatment with innocent children. Child abuse can be defined as physical harm, sexual molestation, psychological abuse and neglect by parent or guardian. Physical harm can be through kicking, hurting, biting and burning the body of the child. It ranges from minor wounds to extreme mental harm and even demise.

Antecedents of the Crime

                Mental or psychological abuse as per Shalev, Moffitt, Sugden, Williams, Houts, Danese, Mill, Arseneault, Caspi, (2013), comes from parent or guardian and effect the behavior of the child and extend from continual low self-esteem to serious states of isolation and low confidence. The cognitive impacts of child abuse range from attentional and learning issue to serious psychological disorders. Behaviorally, the results of child abuse range from poor family relations to extreme aggression. There is a long list of antecedents of child abuse from poverty and deprivation to drug abuse and psychological disorders whereby the cases are specific according to the circumstances of the abuse and the victims. Generally, the child abuse is a crime that is committed by the people in the immediate surroundings of the children and most of the times they are the parents as they have the control over their children. The cases where the parents are the abusers are also of different categories such as separated parents, single mothers, drug abusing parents, step parent(s), parents who adopt from orphanages and economically dissatisfied parents. According to Hanson, Jamie, Hariri, Ahmad, Williamson, Douglas, (2015), these are the categories in which the parents are the first point of contact with children and cases are not reported because the crime occurs ‘indoor’ and due to lack of realization by children about their rights, they delay to report or they are afraid of their parents. There are numerous cases of child abuse committed in the boarding schools where these facilities are not managed according to the national standards and thus the children are abused.

Socioeconomic circumstances of the parents are the most influencing factors in this regard because keeping it simple, no parents get severely physical to their children due to any reason but a series of events and circumstances that take the parents to the limit of committing this crime. In other words, the parents commit this crime categorically and not habitually but other than the real parents, all other abusers are habitual offenders.

Keeping in mind the ultimate consequences, a parent must be identified after committing the crime of child abuse, declared, and examined. Guardians and parents change the perceptions observations of themselves and their kids in the wake of encountering this chain of occasions.

Manhandling and abusing a child and being recognized by a specialist most likely declines self-regard, causes stress, and advances disconnection and doubt of others. Family disharmony and medication or liquor issues could likewise turn out to be more noticeable. At last, getting solid information concerning precursors of child abuse is reliant upon the memory of pre-abuse occasions as well as the trustworthiness and openness of families.

Consequences of the Crime

                The consequences of child abuse leave a devastating impact on the individual and the society around him. The crime of child abuse has short term and long term consequences depending on the signs the victim shows. Sometimes the child is unable to express maltreatment given to him due to low intelligence level. Referring to the consequences of child abuse, the physical abuse resulting in brain damage can lead to death.

Deprivation Dwarfism is a medical term for that child whose growth is affected due to malnutrition and neglect faced by parents. Krason, (2007) confer that neglecting a child in early childhood also results in hostile behaviors in them. The ultimate consequences of the physical abuse can be regarded as damaged nervous system, underdeveloped growth, mental impedance, dehydration, diarrhea, and others. The cognitive abuse results in a deficiency for verbal intelligence, bad performance in schools. The neglecting which child faces in early childhood affects the nervous system badly results in malfunctioned cognitive attitudes. Due to the physical disorders, a child faces in early childhood, his psychological health also gets affected. He may be suffering from poor communication and social skills, may be a quiet and isolated child, emotionally imbalanced, may show interrupted psychological development and errors in verbal and language learning.

Conclusion

                The psychological consequences of child abuse lead to weak bonding between parent and child which will influence the overall life of the victim in dealing with life at a mature age. He won’t be able to learn how to manage the stressful situations, his social relationships will be affected. He may result in a mentally unstable child with aggressive and hostile behaviors. In this regard, sexual molestation also plays an important role in destroyed psychology of the abused child. The sexually abused child results in violent attitude towards their fellows may face nightmares and fear, tendencies to run away from home and may show the signs of stress disorder. The child who faces sexual abuse from any family member may lead to dysfunction of personality and memory.

The sexually abused child, according to psychiatrist says, are not able to express themselves properly, they are self-oriented to pain and show fewer sympathies to their fellows.

Behaviorally the child abused at any level, shows the attitudes of dread, anxiety, hostility, avoidance and running away, socially less active and isolation which affect not only his life but the society, in general, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Shalev I, Moffitt TE, Sugden K, Williams B, Houts RM, Danese A, Mill J, Arseneault L, Caspi   A (2013). "Exposure to violence during childhood is associated with telomere erosion from 5 to 10 years of age: a longitudinal study". Mol. Psychiatry. 18 (5): 576–81. doi:10.1038/mp.2012.32. PMC 3616159Freely accessible. PMID 22525489.

 

Hanson, Jamie L; Hariri, Ahmad R; Williamson, Douglas E (2015). "Blunted Ventral Striatum  Development in Adolescence Reflects Emotional Neglect and Predicts Depressive Symptoms.". Biological Psychiatry. 78 (9): 598–605. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.05.010. PMID 26092778

 

Krason, Stephen M. (2007) "The Critics of Current Child Abuse Laws and the Child Protective System: A Survey of the Leading" (PDF). The Catholic Social Science Review. pp. 307–350.