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Claudia Belizaire
Ms. Torain
Honors English III
December 11, 2014
The most ignored major social problem in America
Did you know that every year more than three million reports are made involving at least
six million children (more the one kid per report) for child abuse? Child abuse is more than
bruises and broken bones. While physical abuse might be the most visible, other types of abuse
such as emotional and verbal abuse, also leave deep, lasting scars. Even though some people
believe that such laws should not infringe on the privacy and First Amendment rights of
others, Laws that regulate activities that are harmful to children and track sex offenders
are essential measures to fight child abuse, some victims of child abuse think its okay to get
abused, grow up to be the abusers themselves, and can lose their lives.
Laws that regulate activities that are harmful to children and track sex
offenders are essential measures to fight child abuse. Youll be fine,
(Banks) are the words often said to victims of child abuse. This shows that
children are easy to trust adults that take advantage of them. In the article
Let's Do More to Protect Kids it talks about a teacher inappropriately
touching his students for over ten years and the principal ignoring it like it
never happened just so she wouldnt lose her pension money. This shows
that people dont take child abuse as seriously as they should. It also takes
about a woman torturing eight kids in her five years of being a foster parent
but was still given seven and eight year olds to take care of. They ran away

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and were found by a sheriff deputy and explained they were locked in rooms,
bounded with zip ties deprived of food, and punished with hammer and
electrical cords. This shows even the adults turn a blind eye to child abuse
because a social worker knew about the children and their situations and
didnt report it. Therefore, laws that regulate activities that are harmful to
children and track sex offenders are essential to fight child abuse.
Some victims think its okay to be abused. "When a sex offender has
access to hundreds of tools, how we can possibly keep up with this explosion
is beyond me," said Leonard Sipes. This proves that sex offenders come up
with many different ways to lure their victims to their lair. For example, Lee
Shelton was a convicted sex offender and the pursuit for his arrest began the
moment he got out of jail and was found months later because he was
kissing a fourteen year old boy behind the school. He was originally placed in
jail for molesting boys at the national air and space museum on the grounds
of Washington monument. It shows that sex offenders across the country will
do anything to get to their prey even evade the law and be on the most
wanted list. This means that its up to the police to crack down every
possible unregistered sex offender. In the article Tracking Sex-Crime
Offenders Gets Trickier it talks about a large percentage of registered sex
offenders (716,000) nationwide a seventy eight percent increase since
2001(J.M.). It also says that the most alarming development for officers is
prolife rating electronic gadgets and the temptations they pose to sex

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offenders. A man on probation in Iowa for molesting a 9-year-old girl, for

example, was recently caught downloading pornographic images of a young
girl on his PlayStation Portable--while walking to his probation appointment.
But tracking them is getting overwhelming for probation officers. "Anything
they shouldn't be doing is going to leap off the page at you," said Jim Tanner
a former probation officer and Colorados leading proponent of monitoring.
The fact that these were the adults, the one that supposed to protect them
taking advantage of the power, strength they have over these kids is
sickening. That is why most victims of child abuse think that its part of
growing up or that its okay because they dont know any better.
Two-month-old Tanner Dowler, who died of physical abuse at the hands
of his young parents, despite efforts by his grandparents, to alert and prompt
authorities to intervene even before he was born. Most common child
maltreatment is physical abuse, especially children receiving injuries to their
heads. Known as abusive head trauma, these injuries occur when a childs
head is slammed against a surface, is severely struck or when a child is
violently shaken. The next most common cause of physical abuse deaths is
punches or kicks to the abdomen, leading to internal bleeding. Other forms
of fatal physical abuse include immersion into hot water, drowning and
smothering. Many children who die from physical abuse have been abused
over time, but a one-time event often causes a death. The most common
reason given by caretakers who fatally injure their children is that they lost

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patience when the child would not stop crying. In the 2014 article, Child
Abuse Statistics nearly one-half of all victims of child abuse and neglect were
White (44%), one-fifth (21%) were African-American, and one-fifth (21.8%)
were Hispanic.

There are many myths out there about child abuse such as: its only abuse if
its violent, only bad people abuse their childrens, most child abusers are
strangers, child abuse doesnt happen in good families. The fact of the
matter is that it doesnt always have to be violent or sexual to be considered
abuse. Neglect and emotional abuse can be just as damaging, and since they
are more subtle, others are less likely to intervene. While it's easy to say that
only "bad people" abuse their children, most of these abusers are not

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intentionally harming their children. Many have been victims of abuse

themselves, and dont know any other way to parent. Others may be
struggling with mental health issues or a substance abuse problem. Although
strangers are known to be abusers its mostly family members or others close
to the family. Abuse doesn't only happen in poor families or bad
neighborhoods. It crosses all racial, economic, and cultural lines. Sometimes,
families who seem to have it all from the outside are hiding a different story
behind closed doors. What these abusers dont know is that they are leaving
long lasting scars visible and non-visible. Psychological such as fear, panic
attacks, sleeping problems, nightmares, irritability, anger outburst, and
sudden shock reaction when being touched. With that comes
confidence,

and

self-respect

and

respect

for

one's

own

body.

little
Re-

experiencing; they experience the event(s) again; unintentionally they are

confronted with memories of the abuse, for example through nightmares, a
sudden word, memories or physical touch.
Even though some people believe that such laws should not infringe on
the privacy and First Amendment rights of others. In California registered sex
offenders aren't allowed at schools, churches, shopping malls or other places
where children may gather in the real world. In the article Speaking For Sex
Offenders Janice Bellucci wife and mother of two has made the choice of
being the public representative for sex offenders. Even though she believe
that they should go to jail for their crimes, she also believe that once they

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are released they should get the chance of a nice life not one were they are
being told what to do or where to live. People don't like to hear me say it,
but it's like how the Jews were treated in Nazi Germany, first they were told
they were different, then they ended up in concentration camps. Said Janice
Bellucci. She has brought a professional sheen to the sex offenders' fight,
writing talking-point memos, testifying before agencies and taking cities to
court and she's had some success. She sued and won. After that a court
stopped Simi Valley from requiring sex offenders to post signs on their front
doors warning trick-or-treaters away on Halloween. But some of these
offenders believe that their parental rights are being violated, not being able
to see their children because they are ordered by a judge to keep away from
their kids. If they wanted to be good parents they wouldnt have abused their
childrens in the first place.

In conclusion Even though some people believe that such laws should not
infringe on the privacy and First Amendment rights of others, Laws that
regulate activities that are harmful to children and track sex offenders are
essential measures to fight child abuse, some victims of child abuse think its
okay to get abused, grow up to be the abusers themselves, and can lose
their lives. The law needs to be tougher on sex offenders as most of them
the moment that they are out of jail go right back to their old ways.

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Works Cited
Banks, Sandy. "Let's Do More to Protect Kids." Los Angeles Times 2013 feb 09: A.2 DB - SIRS
Issues Researcher. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. <http://sks.sirs.com>.
"Child Abuse - The Hidden Bruises." American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry May 2008. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Iannelli, Vincent. "Child Abuse Statistics." Child Abuse Statistics. National Child Abuse and
Neglect Data System., 27 May 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

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Markon, Jerry, ed. "Tracking Sex-Crime Offenders Gets Trickier." Tracking Sex-Crime
Offenders Gets Trickier. Jerry Markon, 23 June 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Moelker, Wendy, and Jacob Palme. "Consequences of Sexual Abuse; Effects of Child Abuse;
Symptoms of Child Molestation; Child Sexual Abuse Signs." Web4Health. 22 July
2003-2008. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
Saisan, MSW, Joanna, Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., and Melinda Smith, M.A.,. "Child Abuse & Neglect:
Recognizing and Preventing Child Abuse." Helpguide.org: Understand, Prevent and
Resolve Life's Challenges. Emotional Intelligence Toolkit, Oct. 20214. Web. 16 Oct.
2014.
Spigel, Saul. "Child Abuse Prevention and Punishment." Connecticut General Assembly. 18 Oct.
2002. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
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