Free Essays on Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is forced, tricked, or coerced sexual behavior between a young person and an older person. Sexual abuse may consist of any one of the following acts: nudity, disrobing, genial exposer, observation of the child, kissing, fondling, masturbation, oral genital contact, child pornography, and vaginal or anal intercourse. There is no rule governing the age range between a victim and a perpetrator. However, when the perpetrator is under 18 years of age, often age discrepancy of five years has been required to verify cases of sexual abuse where there was no force involved. While many estimates have been made, the national incidence rate of sexual abuse remains unknown. The estimate that one in four girls and one in ten boys are abused prior to age 18 became widely known simply from being repeated. A 1996 national incidence study conducted by the federal government found that girls are sexually abused three times more often than boys. National data from child protective ser vices agencies, collected in 1994, suggest that about 115,000 cases of sexual abuse enter child protective services caseloads annually. Researchers estimate that approximately 109,230 new cases were accepted for service last year. And according to data from 25 states, sexual abuse reports constituted about 10% of all child abuse and neglect reports for 1995 and about 11% of all substantiated cases. While these numbers have decreased over the past year, the number is far higher that the number of cases in the 1970's and early 1980's. The best research regarding the scope of child abuse in day care settings was conducted by David Finkelhor in (1986). He and his colleagues attempted to identify all cases of child abuse in day care centers reported nationwide between January 1983 and December 1985. The study estimated that approximately 500-550 incidents of sexual abuse occurred in day care settings during the three year period and that case involved 2,500 vic... Free Essays on Child Sexual Abuse Free Essays on Child Sexual Abuse Child Sexual Abuse There are many predators out in the world living among us. Some of those predators are accessible to distinguish and safe guard against. Others however do not have a definite classification which makes them a bigger threat. An example of such a predator is a child sexual abuser. According to a research report made by the National Institute of Justice, â€Å"There is no single ‘profile’ that accurately describes or accounts for all child molesters† (doc1). More focus must be put on this topic to be able to accurately profile the characteristics of a child sexual abuser. According to Kali Munro, M.Ed., the definition of child sexual abuse is â€Å"any form of sexual activity with a child by an adult, or by another child where there is no consent or consent is not possible; or by another child who has power over the child. By this definition, it is possible for a child to be sexually abused by another child who is younger than they are. Sexual abuse includes showi ng a child pornographic materials, placing the child’s hand on another person’s genitals, touching a child’s genitals, and the more extreme form of abuse that of penetration. Penetration does not have to occur for it to be sexual abuse† (doc2). This criminal offense is despised beyond most other criminal offenses. However because of the lack of victims coming forth and reporting incidents, studies have been based on relatively inaccurate information. More emphasis must be put on persuading the victims of these crimes to come forth. This research is primarily focused on general characteristics of an offender, different types of abuse, and victims of child sexual abuse. One thing that makes child sexual abuse a difficult topic to study is the fact that there are not any actual guideline to a way an offender is supposed to act. They come from all paths and do different things to children but often times, the â€Å"perpetrators are most often someone the ... Free Essays on Child Sexual Abuse Child sexual abuse is forced, tricked, or coerced sexual behavior between a young person and an older person. Sexual abuse may consist of any one of the following acts: nudity, disrobing, genial exposer, observation of the child, kissing, fondling, masturbation, oral genital contact, child pornography, and vaginal or anal intercourse. There is no rule governing the age range between a victim and a perpetrator. However, when the perpetrator is under 18 years of age, often age discrepancy of five years has been required to verify cases of sexual abuse where there was no force involved. While many estimates have been made, the national incidence rate of sexual abuse remains unknown. The estimate that one in four girls and one in ten boys are abused prior to age 18 became widely known simply from being repeated. A 1996 national incidence study conducted by the federal government found that girls are sexually abused three times more often than boys. National data from child protective ser vices agencies, collected in 1994, suggest that about 115,000 cases of sexual abuse enter child protective services caseloads annually. Researchers estimate that approximately 109,230 new cases were accepted for service last year. And according to data from 25 states, sexual abuse reports constituted about 10% of all child abuse and neglect reports for 1995 and about 11% of all substantiated cases. While these numbers have decreased over the past year, the number is far higher that the number of cases in the 1970's and early 1980's. The best research regarding the scope of child abuse in day care settings was conducted by David Finkelhor in (1986). He and his colleagues attempted to identify all cases of child abuse in day care centers reported nationwide between January 1983 and December 1985. The study estimated that approximately 500-550 incidents of sexual abuse occurred in day care settings during the three year period and that case involved 2,500 vic... Free Essays on Child Sexual Abuse Child Sexual Abuse It is frightening to realize how widespread sexual abuse is in our society and yet how strong the denial of it is.1 â€Å"Don’t waste your time talking about what an aberration it is and how unlikely it is - just get to the place where you understand that one of the things humans do is have sexual contact with children,† says [Gavin] de Becker, author of Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane).2 Sex with children is a crime. It has long been illegal for adults to have sex with children in the U.S. But [thanks to a 1994 federal law, it is also] illegal for Americans to travel overseas to have sex with children under 18.3 Child sexual abuse first became an issue when Freud (pic) theorized that most cases of hysteria in women have been caused by â€Å"premature sexual experiences† [Sigmund Freud, â€Å"The Aetiology of Hysteria,† 1896]. Studies on child molestation began in the 1920s while the first national estimate of cases came out in 1948. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act was enforced in 1974 along with the creation of the National Center for Child Abuse and Neglect. The National Child Abuse Coalition was formed in 1979 to pressure the congress to pass and implement laws.4 The Sexual Assault Resource Center reports that one in three girls and one in five boys will be sexually assaulted by the time they are 16 years old [John N. Briere, Child Abuse Trauma (Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1992); Diana E. Russell, The Secret Trauma: Incest in the Lives of Girls and Women (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1986)],5, i [though] fewer than 10 percent of child sexual abuse cases are reported to authorities.6 [A 2001 University of Pennsylvania] study estimated that in the United States, 325,000 children a year were subjected to sexual exploitation, including prostitution, use in pornography and molestation.7 â€Å"According to Unicef, a million children are forced each yea... Free Essays on Child Sexual Abuse Throughout history child sexual abuse has been a major problem plaguing many societies. Child sexual Abuse has been defined by the text Human Sexuality, as, an adult engaging in sexual contact of any kind with a child- inappropriate touching, oral-genital stimulation, coitus and the like. *Child sexual abuse is an abuse of power that encompasses many forms of sexual activity between a child or adolescent (most often a girl) and an older person, most often a man or older boy known to the victim. Even if no overt violence or threats of violence occur, such interaction is considered coercive and illegal because a child is not considered mature enough to provide in formed consent to sexual involvement. Informed consent implies the possession of adequate intellectual and emotional maturity to understand fully both the meaning and possible consequences of a particular action. Researchers has made a distinction between non-relative & relative child sexual abuse. The first is Pedophilia or child molestation, which is sexual contact between adult and a child who are not related and incest, which is sexual contact between people who are related(one of whom is a child) . Incest includes sexual contact between siblings, as well as between children and their parents, grandparents, uncles, or aunts. It may occur to related adults, however more commonly it involves a child and an adult relative (or older sibling) perpetrator. Incest is said to be one of the world’s most prohibited sexual behaviour and its definition may vary from culture to culture. Incest occurs at all socioeconomic levels and is illegal regardless of the ages of the participants. However, an incestuous relationship between consenting adult relatives is less likely to precipitate legal action than the one involving an adult and a child. Coercive sexual abuse and sexual abuse by a parent often have a devastating impact on the child. The incestuous involvement ...