Cases of child and elderly abuse

Cases of child and elderly abuse

Introduction

Child abuse refers to a set of complex behaviours that include emotional, physical, sexual abuse and neglect. Many people are conversant with the physical form, which is the most common and entails punching, kicking, burning, beating, biting, and any form of action that physically harms a child. However, the other forms are also prevalent only that they are not easy to detect. Although there exist various laws across the world that aim to prevent and possibly eliminate child abuse, the issue is still rampant with the United States also receiving a significant share of child abuse reported cases. Similarly, cases of elderly abuse are also on the rise globally, and the US still features among the most affected. Elderly abuse is defined as the financial, emotional, physical, or psychological mistreatment of an older person. Experts attribute the worsening situation to the increase in the life span of human beings that promotes dependency. As a result, most older adults are viewed as a burden to family and society in general. Cases of child and elderly abuse are reported every day in the United and statistics indicate that the problem affects people from all communities, races, and religion in equal measure.

Example of child abuse

The article “Brooklyn woman gets 18 years for drowning 2-year-old daughter in a bathtub” that was written by Andrew Denney and published in the New York Post on February 26, 2020, presents a classic example of the extent of harm that child abuse cause. In the article, the woman in question, 28-year-old Lin Li was angered by her daughter for wetting herself. The event occurred in March 2016, where Lin is reported to drown her daughter Melody Zheng and assaulted her 4-year-old son. The court heard that Lin, who lived in an apartment at Sunset Park, shoved Melody into a container before placing the box in the bathtub and held the tot underwater until Melody suffocated. During her sentencing, Lin told the court that she regrets her actions that caused her daughter to die as she watched and that she was always going to live with her mistakes. Lin was convicted in 2019 of manslaughter and assault and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Example of elderly abuse

In a separate case published in the ‘HUFFPOST’, a couple was accused of causing a horrible abuse to an older person. The article’s title is “Texas Couple Accused of Keeping 70-Year-Old Woman In Dog Kennel, Other Horrific Abuse” by David Lor and was published on August 28, 2018. In the case, 47-year-old Leonnia Darlene Castilo and her spouse 49-year-old Tommy Lee Anderson were accused of locking a 70-year-old woman in a dog kennel. The woman also reported that the two subjected her to other severe forms of torture for several months at their home. According to the woman, the couple would yell at her and kept her hungry and thirsty. The woman, who is Castilo’s relative also reported that Castilo threw a glass at her and broke it then stripped her to her panties and made her walk on the broken glass. They also took her debit card and withdrew her disability money, thus rendering her helpless. Other relatives saved her from the house on August 22.

Statistics

Statistics on child abuse portray an increasing trend. According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, there was a 10% increase in the number of children who received protective services investigation between 2013 and 2017. Further statistics also indicate that the amount and rate of victims have been on the rise for the last five years counting from 656000 in 2013 to 674000 in 2017, which marks a 2.7 per cent increase. In addition, the rate of child abuse and neglect victims of alcohol misuse risk went up from 10. 6 per cent in 2015 to 12.1 in 2017. Judging from the data, it is evident that the rates are on the rise and we should expect worse statistics in the future if special measures are taken.

Similar statistics are witnessed in elderly abuse. According to the World Health Organization reports, approximately one person in every six people aged 60 years and older across the world experience some form of abuse in 2018. Research indicates that high rates of elderly abuse are witnessed in nursing home institutions and long term care facilities. It is reported that about 66 per cent of staff in the institutions admit they have committed abuse in the past year. The report also indicates that by 2050, the total population of individuals above the age of 60 years will be double today’s population and thus it is expected that the issue will worsen unless stringent measures are put in place.

The statistics of child abuse in Florida correlate with those of the United States in general in severity. For instance, the Children’s Advocacy Centers in Florida served over34000 victims of child abuse and neglect in 2018. Most of the victims were girls, and the most affected age is between 0 to 6 years. Sexual abuse still rates as the highest form of abuse, while neglect falls third after physical abuse. Troubling statistics have also been witnessed in the state regarding elderly abuse. It is reported that 10% of seniors experience abuse in their lifetime. Unfortunately, only 7 percent of the cases are reported since most elders do not get the opportunity to report or are victims of their relatives and thus choose not to report.