...Abstract Although sexual abuse is recognized as a serious violation of human well-being and of the law, no community has yet developed the mechanisms that ensure none of their youth will be sexually abused. Child sexual abuse is, sadly, an international problem of great magnitude that can affect children of all ages, sexes, races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic classes. Upon invitation, this current publication aims at providing a brief overview of a few lessons we have learned from child sexual abuse research as to heighten awareness of mental health professionals on this utmost important and widespread social problem. This overview will focus on different kinds of sexual abuse throughout my paper. Keywords: Child sexual abuse; Review; Prevalence; Mental health outcomes; Prevention Sign up to receive new article alerts from Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental HealthSign up Sexual abuse remains a challenging topic which can be difficult to talk about. Sexual abuse refers to any action that pressures or coerces someone to do something sexually they don't want to do. Sexual abuse can be listed in different categories such as child abuse and rape. Studies show that Florida, Ohio, California and Kentucky have the highest percent of child abuse and rape. There is still a lot we don’t know about the extent of people being abused. Sexual abuse is the most harmful and immoral criminal act, many children have been abused by their close relatives, and most...
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...STATE V. HENRY, 495 S.E.2d 463 (S.C.CT.APP. 1997) Procedural Posture Defendant was convicted in the Circuit Court, he appealed. Case was then sent to the Court of Appeals. Facts Between October 15, 1986, and Christmas of that same year, when Victim was eleven years old, Henry began to molest Victim by touching her on her breast, thighs, and vagina. On February 7, 1991, Victim had a conversation with her younger sister, Tinita. As a result of this conversation, in the early morning hours of February 8, 1991, Victim told her mother Henry had molested her. Issue Did the trial court err in qualifying a psychotherapist with a specialty in child sexual abuse as an expert witness to give opinion testimony in regard to the diagnosis of PTSD? Holding We hold a psychotherapist with a specialty in child sexual abuse may be qualified to give an opinion in regard to PTSD any defect in the amount or quality of Badger's education, training, or experience goes to the weight to be accorded her testimony, not to its admissibility. Accordingly, Henry's conviction is hereby affirmed. Rationale Under Honea v. Prior, 295 S.C. 526, 369 S.E.2d 846 (Ct.App.1988), State v. Schumpert, 312 S.C. 502, 435 S.E.2d 859 (1993), and State v. Myers, 301 S.C. 251, 391 S.E.2d 551 (1990), the relevant inquiry concerning qualification of the proffered expert is whether the witness possesses the necessary skill, learning, education, training, knowledge, or experience to enable the...
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...effectively. These are broadly classified under two categories. (1) affecting women significantly have been reviewed periodically and amendments carried out to keep pace with the emerging requirements. The gender specific laws for which crime statistics are recorded throughout the country are (i) Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ii) Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (iii) Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 (iv) Sati Prevention Act, 1987 The Crimes under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Rape (Sec. 376 IPC) Kidnapping & Abduction for specified purposes (Sec. 363 373 IPC) Homicide for Dowry, Dowry Deaths or their attempts (Sec. 302/304-B IPC) Torture - both mental and physical (Sec. 498-A IPC) Molestation (Sec. 354 IPC) Sexual Harassment (Eve Teasing) (Sec. 509 IPC) Importation of girls (upto 21 years of age) (Sec. 366-B IPC) Reported Incidents of crime (Incidence…2,28,650) A total of 2,28,650 incidents of crime against women (both under IPC and SLL) were reported in the country during the year 2011 as compared to 2,13,585 incidences in the year 2010 recording an increase of 7.1% during the year 2011. These crimes have continuously increased during 2007 2011 with 1,85,312 cases in the year 2007, 1,95,856 cases in the year 2008, 2,03,804 cases in the year 2009 and 2,13,585 cases in the year 2010 and 2,28,650 cases in the year 2011. West Bengal with 7.5% share of country’s population has accounted for nearly 12.7% of total crime against women by reporting 29...
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...Child Sexual Abuse – Past, Present and Future Donna Hurst University of the Cumberlands HSOL 331 April 13, 2013 ABSTRACT This paper explores the issue of child sexual abuse. Sexual abuse of a child has become a major social issue in not only the United States but the entire world. It is imperative that society learns all they can about this issue. As a whole, society needs to discover the indicators of sexual abuse, the appropriate ways to report suspected abuse and how to help those that have been abused so they are not continually victimized by their past. This paper will explore child abuse and child sexual abuse in six parts. The first part will begin with the earliest references of child abuse as a whole. The second part will continue on to the emergence of the issue of child abuse on the social and political scene. The third part of this paper will show when and how sexual abuse first became recognized as part of the child abuse issue. The fourth part of this paper will move into the effects of child sexual abuse. The fifth part will cover child sexual abuse intervention methods and the sixth part will focus on the treatments available to help victims in the present as well as the future. PART ONE: CHILD ABUSE’S PAST In the ancient world, infanticide was common practice in nearly all cultures. Children were killed at birth if they did not seem fit. Fathers were permitted to kill their newborns if they deemed the child was abnormal. Children that showed signs...
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...Child Molestation: Causes, Effects, and Prevention Table of Contents I. Introduction • Statement of the Problem • Purpose of the Study • Significance of the Study • Historical Background II. Causes: An Examination of the Aggressor • Depression • Drug/Alcohol Abuse • Sexual Deficiencies II. Effects of Child Molestation • Posttraumatic Stress Disorder • Changes in Social Interaction • Promiscuity III. Solutions/Prevention • Education • Monitoring • Medical/Psychological Treatment for Aggressor IV. Discussions and Conclusion V. References Introduction After viewing the recently released, “Precious”, a movie based upon the novel “Push” by Sapphire, it has become overwhelmingly apparent that child molestation is a widespread plague that has affected many young women across the United States of America. Child molestation is an act in which an adult or older adolescent abuses a child for sexual gratification and stimulation. This selfish and perverted act has proven to cause devastating short term affects on adolescents. This study will examine the possible causes of this type of behavior; primarily examining the aggressor. It will also detail some of the short term affects that arise among the victims, such as the psychological and social ramifications. It is also of necessity to note the possible solutions to prevent such actions from taking place. This is a problem that is worthy of much consideration and recognition because statistics show that...
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...was arrest Wednesday on 10 new counts of child sex abuse chargesbased on the testimony of two new alleged victims. The new allegations bring to 10 the number of alleged sex abuse victims. Dottie Sandusky, who delivered a $50,000 check today to help bail her husband out of jail, was named in the testimony of one of the new alleged victims. Mrs. Sandusky has been implicated in the alleged sex abuse crimes by three of the men who claim to have been assaulted by her husband. The Pennsylvania attorney general's office, which is leading the investigation, would not confirm whether Dottie Sandusky was a target of their investigation or could face charges based on the testimony now available. "I'll just say that it remains an ongoing investigation, driven by evidence and fact," said a spokesman f The accuser, known in the grand jury presentment as Victim 9, told a grand jury that while he was allegedly being raped in the basement of the couple's home once, he called out for her help, knowing Dottie Sandusky was upstairs. But she never came down to help him, he said. "I have been shocked and dismayed by the allegations made against Jerry, particularly the most recent one that a now young man has said he was kept in our basement during visits and screamed for help as Jerry assaulted him while I was in our home and didn't respond to his cries for help," she said. Jerry Sandusky, 67, is now charged with 50 counts relating to child molestation, and will appear in court for...
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...Developmental Profile August 4, 2012 Jessica is a fourteen year old Puerto Rican girl who is in her third trimester of pregnancy. Jessica has been sexually molested by her father Carlos and her twenty-five year old brother Junior since she was eight years old. Jose is Jessica’s boyfriend who is twenty-one years old and they have been sexually active since they met at a party. She currently lives with an aunt who took her in once the molestation and teen pregnancy came to light a few months ago. Jessica has no contact with her mother at this time. Her mother left the family when Jessica was six months old, but Jessica has no idea why her mother left. She has seen her mom from time to time, but they do not speak anymore. Jessica states that she took care of the family for as long as she can remember. It is reported that Junior took care of Jessica until she was able to care for herself. He helped her with potty training and learning to dress it did take her awhile to learn how to be totally potty trained. As soon as she was old enough she was cooking, cleaning and taking care of her father and brother. She states that they lived in a one bedroom apartment and she shared a bed with her brother and her father slept on the couch. She states that many nights they went to bed hungry. Jessica missed a lot of school when she was in elementary school since no one cared to get up in the morning. The only family she had growing up on a regular basis was her father, brother...
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...genuine and wholesome love. However, in some families that is not the case. Some family members experience a completely different and most often, unwelcomed and inappropriate type of closeness called incest. Incest is basically described as closely related members within the same family line who are engaging in sexual behaviors. Caruso (1987) defines incest as: • Sexual contact or interaction between family members who are not marital partners; • Oral-genital contact, genital or anal penetration, genital touching of the victim by the perpetrator, any other touching of private body parts, sexual kissing and hugging; • Sexually staring at the victim by the perpetrator, accidental or disguised touching of the victim's body by the perpetrator, verbal invitations to engage in sexual activity, verbal ridiculing of body parts, pornographic photography, reading of sexually explicit material to children, and exposure to inappropriate sexual activity (as cited in Incest, 2008, para. 4). This type of abuse is considered more complex and disturbing in nature; however, it is increasing and becoming more apparent in families who experience domestic/physical violence or sexual abuse within the family unit. Most often these families are considered to be broken and dysfunctional which results in a higher risk of abuse which then leads to the developing of severe issues and problem areas within the family. “Individuals in families that physically and sexually abuse tend to have low self-esteem...
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...* * Child Molestation and Homosexuality Ann Landers used to proclaim that the statement “Homosexuals are more inclined to molest children sexually than heterosexuals” is false.1 The American Psychological Association sponsored a work asserting: “Recognized researchers in the field on child abuse,… almost unanimously concur that homosexual people are actually less likely to approach children sexually.”2 Why is it, then, that we read about sex between boys and men in every newspaper? Does it merely reflect sensationalist journalism? We know that heterosexual molestation also occurs. But since there are so many more heterosexuals than homosexuals, which kind of child molestation — homosexual or heterosexual — is proportionately more common? The Scientific Evidence Three kinds of scientific evidence point to the proportion of homosexual molestation: 1) survey reports of molestation in the general population, 2) surveys of those caught and convicted of molestation, and 3) what homosexuals themselves have reported. These three lines of evidence suggest that the 1%-to-3% of adults who practice homosexuality3account for between a fifth and a third of all child molestation. Reports of Molestation by the General Population In 1983, a probability survey of the sexual experiences of 4,340 adults in five U.S. cities found that about 3% of men and 7% of women reported sexual involvement with a man before the age of 13 (i.e., 30% was homosexual).4 In 1983-84, a random survey...
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...The Bluest Eye: Worth Challenging? Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye is one of the books most often challenged in the United States. This is a reaction that, on its face, seems easy to understand. The book contains violence, sexual content (both violent and not), and racial themes. The novel takes place in Lorain, Ohio during the Great Depression and primarily follows the story of three African-American girls, two sisters and their friend, Pecola. The events that transpire in their lives during the course of the book would disturb even those accustomed to reading literature not aimed at the young adult market. The question of what age to allow students to read The Bluest Eye, and more specifically have it taught to them, is a difficult one to answer. On the one hand, the book could be disturbing to young students and their parents would probably feel uncomfortable having their child exposed to its content, but on the other hand the literary merit of the novel cannot be doubted and its realism provokes readers into thinking more deeply about child abuse and race. Violence is found scattered throughout the book. One of the central characters, if not the central character, is Pecola, a young girl living in an abusive home. Her parents often fight, seemingly to pass the time. Pecola is emotionally scarred by this, and wishes she could just run away like her older brother. Most notably, she is raped at the hands of her father, Cholly. This is almost certainly the most controversial...
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...Essay Lost Children The experience of a child growing up is meant to be exciting and fun. It is a time when children experience and learn about themselves and their morals by simply being a kids and having fun. To have one’s childhood forcefully taken away from them is inhumane, and unfortunately sexual, physical, and mental child abuse has always existed. Thorn is a technology task force made up of twenty technology companies including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Twitter that lend their knowledge, time and resources to fight the sexual exploitation of children. According to Thorn, the exact number of child abuse victims is difficult to identify due to illicit nature of this activity, but it is estimated that there are 100,000 to 300,000 children at risk of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States and one million children exploited by the global commercial sex trade each year. Given these figures there are three questions that come to mind: Why does child sexual exploitation occur?; What are the consequences of sexual exploitation on the victims?; What can be done to stop it? According to NSPCC child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a, “…form of sexual abuse that involves the manipulation and/or coercion of young people under the age of 18 into sexual activity in exchange for things such as money, gifts, accommodation, affection or status.” A direct link has been observed between poverty and sexual exploitation. During a time of extreme poverty or...
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...Brittanie Adams Professor Gibson-Lucas 1st Year Seminar 1 October 2015 Child Abuse and Suicide Child abuse and suicide, two of the most well-known topics worldwide for all the wrong reasons. When many people hear the words “child abuse” they easily assume it was some form of physical maltreatment, but child abuse is often sexual molestation of a child (“Sexual Abuse”). Suicide is known as the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Child abuse and Suicide are two completely different topics that are related in many different ways that most people are unaware of. In 1986 there were an estimated 155,900 cases of child sexual abuse identified by scientists, a 221% increase over 1980 (Finkelhor 79). When a perpetrator engages with a child this way, they are committing a crime that can have lasting effects on the victim for years. Child sexual abuse does not need to include physical contact between a perpetrator and a child. Sexual abuse on a child can range from obscene digital interaction to intercourse, even anything causing mental harm to the child/minor. Often times people picture a perpetrator as someone who is a stranger to the child or an adult, but the abuser is many times known by the child or family and has a relationship with the child. As many as 93% of victims under the age of 18 know the abuser (RAINN). Often times people wonder why the victims don’t speak up and it's not because they don't want to, but because the abuser threatens them with a number of...
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...Profiling Paper The law defines rape as sexual contact with a non-consenting person. Being convicted of rape yields charges ranging from a misdemeanor to felony. There are four classifications of rapist: power reassurance, anger retaliation, power assertive, and sadistic. Each type of rapist has different goals and influences that make them carry out the attack. Power reassurance rapists, as most rapist profiles do, have a pretty specific profile. Very often, they are single, passive, non-athletic people who live with their parents, do not have sex partners and few if any friends, and work menial jobs. Power reassurance rapists seek validation. This validation elevates their “status.” Power reassurance rapists also seek to validate a fantasy of being sexually adequate and may demand the victim act out a sexual fantasy. They tend to frequent adult bookstores and have voyeur, exhibitionist, transvestite, and or fetishist tendencies. There is a strong sexual component to their attacks…they view the rape as a sexual relationship and thus rarely if ever use force. Anger retaliation rapists are exactly that…rapists who retaliate out of anger. These people tend have faced family hardships, such as divorce or foster care, early in life. They are poorly educated, often high school drop-outs, misogynists who have backgrounds in contact sports, frequent bars, and have action oriented jobs. These physically abusive people are usually in relationships, socially competent, and have...
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...of abortion, but "who decides--the woman or the state? “Most Americans favor stiff penalties for rapists. Clearly, laws against rape don't let the government decide who gets raped. Instead, these laws indicate that the government has decided rape is an unacceptable practice. Rapists disagree, but the rest of us decided to impose our morality on them. That is what laws are all about. I do not agree that getting an abortion is wrong. Those who refute abortion claim that it is the murder of a helpless baby who has not yet had the chance to live and function as a human being. However, the debate opposite it is just as fervent: it is a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body, and if she decides that she is not capable of bringing a child into this world, than she shouldn’t be forced to out of nature. Where do we draw the line between humane and inhumane, necessitated death and murder? When does a woman’s right over her internal reproductive organs become that of the government’s? Are rape, incest and potential fatality to the mother exceptions when abortion is...
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...Introduction Child sexual abuse falls under child abuse which includes any sexual activity with minor. A minor cannot give consent to any kind of sexual activity. Child sexual abuses don’t include only physical only physical contact between the perpetrator and the minor. Some sort of child sexual abuse are : - Exposing oneself to the minor. - Fondling - Intercourse of any kind with minor, including vaginal, anal, or oral. - Masturbating in front of the minor or forcing them to do so. - Obscene phone calls, messages or digital interactions. - Producing or sharing any pornographic images or movies. - Sex trafficking - Any other sexual activity which may affect child's psychological, emotional, or physical well being It is the fact that millions of minors worldwide are being sexually abused either within the house or anywhere outside. The perpetrator can be anyone who takes advantage of the child to satisfy sexual pleasure. A perpetrator does not need to be an adult to harm any child. The can be related to the child including an elder sibling or playfellow, any family member, a teacher, a coach or an instructor, a care taker, or the parent of another child....
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