The state, on the other hand, could more easily marshal this evidence given its expertise; furthermore, the evidence would mostly be reusable in its other and future cases. Lansford Jennifer E, et al. Child Physical Abuse and Corporal Punishment. First, the need for discipline in many instances is a judgment call whose merits cannot be established with precision, perhaps particularly by outsiders to the family. Doing so, however, is antithetical to the purposes of the exception. Baumrind Diana, Larzelere Robert E, Cowan Philip A. A Population-Based Comparison of Clinical and Outcome Characteristics of Young Children With Serious Inflicted and Noninflicted Traumatic Brain Injury. Even when CPS decisionmaking is administratively constrained, however, personal and community ideology continues to play a considerable role in this process. And they have increasingly relied on scientific research to conclude whether a particular parents behavior is likely to cause serious harm to the victim, as well as whether a childs symptoms are likely to have been caused by parents abusive behavior or by some other source, such as an accidental fall.156, Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), also known as abusive head trauma and the leading cause of abuse-related deaths in the United States each year, provides a model for the way scientific evidence has been used effectively by CPS and in the legal system.157 Frustrated parents of crying babies under the age of twelve months sometimes shake the baby back and forth or up and down in an effort to stop the crying. and transmitted securely. Among the acts that constitute abuse with a showing of physical injury are [t]hrowing, kicking, burning, biting, or cutting a child; [s]triking a child with a closed fist; [s]haking a child; or [s]triking a child on the face or head.28 Similarly, Floridas statute provides that abuse is any willful act or threatened act that results in any physical injury or harm that causes or is likely to cause the childs physical, mental, or emotional health to be significantly impaired.29 It then enumerates injuries that can harm a childs health or welfare. 39 For example, the District of Columbias statute provides that abuse does not include discipline administered by a parent, guardian, or custodian to his or her child; provided, that the discipline is reasonable in manner and moderate in degree and otherwise does not constitute cruelty.40 The statute then provides an illustrative list of specific acts that are unacceptable forms of discipline for purposes of the exception. Consistent with this consensus, all states laws permit the use of reasonable corporal punishment;1 simultaneously, they all prohibit nonaccidentally inflicted serious injury. Spare the Kids: Because Disciplining Children Doesn't Have to Hurt What Is Considered Child Abuse? Epub 2017 Feb 27. WebPhysical abuse option 1 act or failure to act performed knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally, including incitement to act. An Introduction to Child Maltreatment in The United States: History, Public Policy and Research 89110. The parents behavior per se is less significant than the meaning of the behavior as interpreted by the child.178 This meaning is determined by the family context, including chronicity of the act, the contingency of the act on the childs misbehavior, mitigating factors such as temporary stress and the childs instigation of the act, and exacerbating factors such as parents taunting and psychological abuse. Thus, for example, the state would be unable to prove abuse if it could not prove functional impairment. This in turn demands that the parents be given a wide sphere of discretion.129 Although the United States Supreme Court has never had occasion to rule on whether corporal punishment is included among parents federal constitutional rights, this disciplinary option is well-established under state law.130 Specifically, states have long provided parents with an exception to tort- and criminal-law prohibitions against physical assaults when they can establish a disciplinary motive for the assault and when the assault itself is reasonable.131 Twentieth-century case law is thus replete with holdings like this one: A parent has the right to punish a child within the bounds of moderation and reason, so long as he or she does it for the welfare of the child.132 The states approach has its origins in the Colonial period, [when] [corporal] punishment was thought to be a desirable and necessary instrument of restraint upon sin and immorality, as well as having a regenerative effect on the childs character.133 This view derived in turn from traditional English doctrine, which holds that a parent may lawfully correct his child, being under age, in a reasonable manner, for this is for the benefit of his education.134 Modern maltreatment law has adopted this common-law exception.135, In general, parental autonomy is viewed as being good for society, good for parents, and good for children. Thus, in order to fulfill their professional obligations, case workers, prosecutors, and judges should be regularly educated about the status of scientific evidence in child abuse and be trained to interpret that evidence. The term, adapted from the medical sciences, refers to short- or long-term or permanent impairment of emotional or physical functioning in tasks of daily living.12 (Currently, most states maltreatment definitions prohibit practices and injuries that may lead to functional impairment. When is Parental Discipline Child Abuse? However, because it is impossible to eliminate entirely the need for CPS to exercise discretionat the margins, the line between reasonable corporal punishment and abuse is uncertain and wavering at best64norms, training, and ideology play a role even within tightly constrained programs. On average, 17% of children experienced severe physical punishment (being hit on the head, face or ears or hit hard and repeatedly) but in some countries this figure exceeds 40%. Just over half of state definitions contain only broad language and fail to provide specific examples of injuries or acts constituting physical abuse or to elaborate otherwise on the meaning of physical harm or injury. Greer Dyanne C. Child Abuse and Discipline: A Parental and Prosecutorial Dilemma. Basing decisionmaking about the reasonableness of corporal punishment on a combination of parental-autonomy norms and scientific evidence about harm, as this functional-impairment test would do, is not new. Large variations across countries and regions show the potential for prevention. Consistent with state statutes that typically define physical abuse in terms of harm or injury to the child, courts drawing the line between reasonable corporal punishment and unlawful physical abuse focus heavily on the degree and severity of the childs physical injury. Consistent with prevailing statutory language, when evaluating whether an act of corporal punishment was reasonable or abusive, CPS most typically considers the nature and degree of the immediate physical harm to the child.49 The extent to which that injury may have longterm or even permanent physical consequences will generally affect the CPS determination, particularly in those jurisdictions that require a serious or severe injury either statutorily or by custom. The three legal institutions responsible for where and how the states draw the line between reasonable corporal punishment and abuse are the state legislatures, which announce and define allowances and prohibitions in the first instance; CPS agencies and professionals, also known as departments of social services or DSS, which administer the legislative mandates and thus most directly engage families and children; and the courts, which are charged with interpreting legislation in the last instance, and which thus act as a check on decisions made by CPS. Response and support services for early recognition and care of child victims and families to help reduce reoccurrence of violent discipline and lessen its consequences. Most employ the terms physical harm or physical injury.19 Additionally, many states classify as abuse acts or omissions that create a risk or substantial risk of physical injury or harm. The basis for evaluating this second prong ought to be whether what the parent has done has caused or risks causing functional impairment. Specifically, some courts consider whether the disciplinary act was rendered necessary by the childs actions.115 This approach requires courts to evaluate the nature and gravity of the childs behavior and the parents attempts to address the behavior without resorting to physical discipline.116 The childs age and developmental stage should also be relevant to this inquiry because punishment is pointless (and only potentially harmful) if the child is unable to appreciate its intended lesson. One in 2 children aged 617 years (732million) live in countries where corporal punishment at school is not fully prohibited. Early Physical Abuse and Later Violent Delinquency: A Prospective Longitudinal Study. These include punishments which belittle, humiliate, denigrate, scapegoat, threaten, scare or ridicule the child. WebCorporal punishment (CP) is a form of discipline often de- fined as the use of physical force with the intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury, for the Webabuse and neglect as "any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caregiver that results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act that presents an imminent risk of serious harm." [7] Since Blackstones time, the parental discipline privilege has condoned parental assault on children in the name of discipline. discipline was or was not appropriate in the circumstances; the force used was or was not reasonable in the circumstances; any harm caused to the child was or was not within the de minimis exception. Rapid back-and-forth head movement from shaking can rupture blood vessels and nerves throughout the brain, tearing and destroying brain tissue. David and Anne Delaplane very eloquently discuss the religious and spiritual dimensions of child abuse and neglect in their articleVictims of Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Elder Abuse, Rape, Robbery, Assault, and Violent Death, A Manual for Clergy and Congregations, Special Edition for Military Chaplains, Section I: Child Abuse and Neglect.10Sections of their article are excerpted here.
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