Abuse and Juvenile Delinquency PDF

Running head: ABUSE AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 1
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Abuse and Juvenile Delinquency
Name
Institution

ABUSE AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 2
Abuse and Juvenile Delinquency
Introduction
Abuse has affected more than one million children in the United States. Child abuse has
been the source of acute injury to more than 500, 000 children as well as the death of over 1,500
children annually (Lochner, Lance, and Enrico Moretti, 2014). These large numbers show how
child abuse and delinquency has impacted on the society even if they have less effect on the life
of the child. Delinquency has been an increasing issue in many states in the United States. The
issue of delinquency has increased as a result of early or current experiences with abuse. On the
other hand, abuse is the misuse of someone in such a manner that reveals no concern for the
person worth (Grogan-Kaylor, Andrew and Melanie, 2013).
Child sexual abuse is a common and impactful crime with significant implications for
child victims, adult survivors and the community at large. A recent meta-analysis of sixty-five
prevalence studies covering twenty-two countries found that 19.7percent of women and
7.9percent of men had experienced child sexual abuse before the age of 18 (Kendler et al., 2008).
Child sex offenders are overwhelmingly male and there are between 2.5 - 3 females for every
male victim (Kendler et al., 2008). Children in all social classes are vulnerable to sexual abuse
however institutionalized children and children in care, located at the intersections of poverty,
racism, state harm, and clerical crime, have been at particular risk (Smith and Thornberry, 2017).
The frequency of sexual abuse in the lives of children living with disability highlights how
sexual abuse flourishes in spaces of powerlessness and vulnerability, amplifying pre-existing
differentials in status and opportunity (Pelton, 2014). The life trajectory of sexual abuse victims
includes a disproportionate risk of mental and physical illness, financial insecurity and criminal
victimization and perpetration (Gilbert et al., 2009), at which point adult survivors find them

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entangled within the criminal justice system. Survivors may find themselves entangled within the
criminal justice system and other punitive institutions in a range of ways.
The issue of abuse can be in the form of emotional, sexual as well as physical. In this
regard, the physical abuse includes shooting, drowning, biting, throwing, suffocating or
intentionally mistreating a child. Neglect or emotional abuse is manifested through persistent
rejection and criticism of a child while sexual abuse is the exploitation of a child through
different ways such as incest, parent molestation, and rape (Felitti et al., 2013). Some of the
sexual abuse signs include the child reporting having difficulty in sitting or walking. The child
may also show extremes in behaviors such as having demanding behavior, aggression or extreme
passivity that make him or her attempt to commit suicide or harm them.
The different kinds of abuse exposed to children make them develop delinquent
behaviors due to childhood frustrations or the current trauma. According to the Children’s Law
Office of South Carolina (Dubowitz and Guterman, 2010), it is reported that more than 31 South
Carolina counties indicated a rise in the number of juveniles placed under detention. In 2007, it
was approximated that 3.2 million referrals that involved the maltreatment of an estimation of
5.8 million children were referred to CPS agencies. Likewise, Malinsky-Rummell, Robin and
David Hansen (2015) also revealed that out of 4.7 million victimizations by single offenders,
about 16.8 percent of the offenders were perceived to range between twelve and seventeen.
Mocan, Naci, and Erdal (2010) also indicate that out of 1.2 victimizations by multiple offenders,
34.9 percent of the offenders ranged between twelve and twenty.
Based on this information, there are an enormous number of abused children as well as
children victimizers. There is a need to focus on this issue in the United States because many
people perceive this crime as a non-issue. Why focus on juvenile between the age of 14 and 17

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years? Is the most asked question by people. This is because, at these ages, most teens become
rebellious and act contrary to expectations. Some individuals assume that most of the abused
teens always have a lot of freedom that allows them to participate in deviant criminal acts
because of less supervision. Peer pressure is also prevalent at these ages.
This paper seeks to investigate and elaborate on the United States juveniles that range
between fourteen and seventeen that are in juvenile detention centers that have been abused
sexually, physically and emotionally in their childhood. The paper will further explore the
impact of effective therapy for delinquents. In most cases, people believe that children turn to
crime because they were abused, but people should be made to understand that not all abused
teens react to the abuse in a violent manner. The social importance of this study is to
acknowledge that these children ought to receive some assistance before they become adults and
possibly end up in prison. The first step to assist these children is to study them first. The study
will open doors for resources for the abused children such as effective counseling that can be
offered for them to fully recover from their previous abuse. When the relationship between the
abused children and child offenders is recognized, it will provide an opportunity to assist
children before they become deviant criminals.
Literature Review
The connection between youngster misuse and delinquent teens has been unnoticed for
quite some time. There have been extensive studies that have been conducted on abuse and
delinquency each indicating a different kind of results. In the Australia Institute of Family
Studies, a survey was carried on women to discuss the male sexual violence against children and
women (Pelton, 2014). The researchers depended on the records of the number of people who
were arrested for sexual-related crimes. From the survey that was done, it was concluded that