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Numbers of Abuse Cases Lowest Since 1993

By: Aubrey Moulton

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Brand new federal reports are claiming that there has been a dramatic reduction in the incidents of severe child abuse. Specifically, reports of sexual abuse have gone down considerably. Officials believe the drop is due to more stringent laws and augmented public awareness.
About 553,000 children were the victims of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse in 2005-06. This is lower by 26 percent from the 743,200 abuse victims in 1993. Professor David Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire commented "It's the first time since we began collecting data about these things that we've noted substantial decreases over a longer period, and that's extremely encouraging." He also affirms that consciousness and harsher punishments are connected to the reduced existenses of abuse.

These conclusions were detailed in the National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect. The Department of Health and Human Services conducted the survey. The most recent study was issued in 1996 but it was restricted to information gathered in 1993. The study's data was collected from 10,700 "sentinels" like child welfare workers, police officers, teachers, health care professionals and day care workers from 122 counties across the U.S. In 2005-06 there was a 38 percent drop in the number of sexually abused children. It fell from 217,700 to 135,300. And those who experienced physical abuse fell by 15 percent and emotional abuse fell by 27 percent.

It is great that "there's greater public awareness and public intolerance around child abuse now" related Linda Spears from the Child Welfare League of America's vice president for public policy. Before it "was a hidden problem - people were fearful of talking about it if it was in their family." She also believes that another reason for the noticeable decline is the amount and broad array of projects formed to assist abusers and potential abusers overcome problems and therefore has lead to lowered incidents of abuse.

These lower numbers have also been traced to the quantity of employees hired on in child protection services and the criminal justice system in the 1990s. They were hired in order to step up the anti-abuse efforts with arrests and prison time for the perpetrators. It is also purported that the number of medications available enables potential abusers to treat their conditions, resulting in reduced reports of child abuse.

On a different note, evidence has proven that socioeconomic status influences abuse. Children from impoverished backgrounds are three times more likely than other kids to live with abuse. It was learned that African-American families had significantly higher rates of abuse than Caucasians or Hispanics. Although socioeconomic position is a contributor, family make-up plays a part as well. Children who had a single parent with a live-in partner were reportedly abused at a rate which was 10 times higher than a child living with two parents.

Apparently the country has been taking steps in the right direction. And the information that the numbers and cases of abuse victims is falling is a miracle. However, any abuse is too much and measures are being taken to try and eradicate it.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

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