Child abuse is a widespread problem, present in all countries and throughout time. However, the definition of what is considered child abuse is also different depending on location and time period. In the United States, federal law’s definition of comes from the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. According to Child Welfare Information Gateway, the CAPTA states that child abuse is “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or a caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or an act or failure of act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm” (2016, p. 1). However, even in the United States, the exact definition of what counts as child abuse changes from state
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Organizations like the Mothers Aid movement advocated for keeping children in the home and the directing attention to the “detrimental effects of dehumanizing institutions” (p. 314). The government started passing laws on child labor, and advocating for the removal of adolescents from adult penal institutions. Even with these changes, there was little advocacy for criminalizing the abusers. Medical practitioners did not even consider abuse as a possible diagnosis until pediatric radiology began to diagnose the fractures and stress to the bones of children as the result of parental abuse. This resulted in the child abuse reporting movement. Social services and various movements started taking abuse more seriously, even having case workers who referred to themselves as battered child therapists. The response to child abuse was now firmly in the interests of protecting the children from abusers, not society from the children. However, even today there is still a resistance to a complete criminalization of the child abusers. Pfohl states that the prosecution of abusers is rare, and even when it happens, only five to ten percent of the cases result in conviction (1997). If you have ever read the book, A Child Called It, this lack of criminalization is very clear. Even though the author was horribly abused by his mother, the legal system only intervened enough to remove him from the …show more content…
Finkhelor (1991) defined child sexual abuse as “sexual contact with a child that occurs as result of force or in a relationship where it is exploitative because of an age difference or caretaking responsibility” (p. 79). The World Health Organization defines it as “the involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent, or for which the child is not developmentally prepared, or else that violates the laws or social taboos of society” (Selmini, 2016, p. 823). The legal definitions of child abuse can vary greatly within a country, as these laws vary from state to state in the United States. The differing legal definitions, cultural and social climates in varying countries make it difficult for researchers to collect adequate information on the subject of child abuse on an international level. While data from the police, child welfare services, and national reports can be collected in the United States and Canada, other countries have more barriers when it comes to collecting this information. Europe in particular has very little research about the topic of child sexual abuse, however, the United Kingdom’s research on the topic is well-developed and frequently
Organizations like the Mothers Aid movement advocated for keeping children in the home and the directing attention to the “detrimental effects of dehumanizing institutions” (p. 314). The government started passing laws on child labor, and advocating for the removal of adolescents from adult penal institutions. Even with these changes, there was little advocacy for criminalizing the abusers. Medical practitioners did not even consider abuse as a possible diagnosis until pediatric radiology began to diagnose the fractures and stress to the bones of children as the result of parental abuse. This resulted in the child abuse reporting movement. Social services and various movements started taking abuse more seriously, even having case workers who referred to themselves as battered child therapists. The response to child abuse was now firmly in the interests of protecting the children from abusers, not society from the children. However, even today there is still a resistance to a complete criminalization of the child abusers. Pfohl states that the prosecution of abusers is rare, and even when it happens, only five to ten percent of the cases result in conviction (1997). If you have ever read the book, A Child Called It, this lack of criminalization is very clear. Even though the author was horribly abused by his mother, the legal system only intervened enough to remove him from the …show more content…
Finkhelor (1991) defined child sexual abuse as “sexual contact with a child that occurs as result of force or in a relationship where it is exploitative because of an age difference or caretaking responsibility” (p. 79). The World Health Organization defines it as “the involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent, or for which the child is not developmentally prepared, or else that violates the laws or social taboos of society” (Selmini, 2016, p. 823). The legal definitions of child abuse can vary greatly within a country, as these laws vary from state to state in the United States. The differing legal definitions, cultural and social climates in varying countries make it difficult for researchers to collect adequate information on the subject of child abuse on an international level. While data from the police, child welfare services, and national reports can be collected in the United States and Canada, other countries have more barriers when it comes to collecting this information. Europe in particular has very little research about the topic of child sexual abuse, however, the United Kingdom’s research on the topic is well-developed and frequently