Child Abuse
More enforcement of penalties is needed to protect children from being abused in the United States. Child abuse is usually divided into four major types: Physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional maltreatment. Millions of children each year become victims of abuse. In "1986, there were 2.2 million reports of physical or sexual, or neglect, which was more than triple that of a decade earlier (Steitfeld E5)." The Health and Human Services Department found that in "1996, 3 million children were maltreated or abused (Seattle 1)." These numbers will continue to rise until the laws are made more strict. Abuse in all forms has many short and long term effects on the young victims. Children who are physically abused are "wary of physical contact with adults (Sloan 4)", "are afraid to go home (4)", and "demonstrate extremes in behavior (4)." When a child is neglected, they tend to have "rare attendance at school and addictions to alcohol and other drugs (5)." Sexually abused children suffer from "bruises or bleeding in the genital area and have poor peer relationships (6-7)" throughout their lives. Emotional maltreatment can appear by itself, although it is usually accompanied by other forms of abuse
House Bill 4348 was created in order to strengthen the current child abuse laws, and make them more effective. Former President Clinton became alarmed that far to many children were becoming victims of child abuse. He "announced the availability of $10 million in "Safe Start" grants to help up to 12 cities reduce the impact of violence on young children. (Seattle 1)." There were 4 parts to Clintons' initiative: his started, Clinton is making available $10 million in "Safe Start" grants from the Justice Department to help as many as 15 cities reduce the impact of violence on children. Increase public awareness of the problem. The Justice Department will sponsor a national conference on children and violence in May 1999 to bring together experts in law enforcement, mental health, child development and related fields to discuss the issue of child victimization. (Seattle 1)." . These children often display "anti-social behavior, behavior extremes whether it be extreme withdrawl, or extreme aggression, and they may even attempt suicide (8)." report to a parole officer once a week to comply with parole rules. Creates a pilot program for high-risk youth and offers youth offenders placed on probation the opportunity to enter such a program. Children placed in the pilot prevention program may be visited unannounced at homes, school or the workplace by a team of probation and police officers (Jackfranks)." At this point in time, there are several bills that are in the process of becoming laws now. For example, the House Bill 4348 changes the penalty for endangering the life or health of a child from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class 4 felony for a first offense. Other provisions of House Bill 4348 are as follows: Child abuse is a major problem here in the United States that needs to be addresses. The sooner that this happens, the sooner children will be able to act like children and have fun, not living in fear of their abusers.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Services Department, Justice Department, House Bill, Offender Registry, Requires Department, United Child, Safe Start, D5 Child, President Clinton, child abuse, Child Abuse, house bill, bill 4348, health child, child sex, justice department, house bill 4348, seattle 1, sex offender, life health child, abused children, 1500 feet, health child class, child class misdemeanor, misdemeanor class 4,
Approximate Word count = 1682
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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