When dealing with child abuse there are many areas that need to be explored such as the Psychological, Legal, and Professional stand points of the Prosecution and Defense. Forensic Investigation has to be preformed and the Police, Pediatrics nurse and or doctors and Lawyers all have to work on the same page in order to bring child abusers to justice.
Child abuse is an unfortunate case that needs to be handled diligently by trained professionals. Psychologists should be trained to examine evidence presented by Forensics Investigators and by Criminal Investigator to figure out what type of person they are dealing with. If the sexual predator is still at large, the Investigators and Police Force need to be able to find them in order to remove the threat of violence off the street, Whealin, Barnett (2009).
A full medical examination by a specialized nurse should be performed within three days of the victim’s rape. The examiner should perform the proper rape kit. In the case of child abuse, a Pediatric doctor or nurse that is qualified to handle child abuse cases should examine the child for physical and mental abuse. The child may have feelings about the abuser that display conflicts between themselves and their abuser. The child could be under post stress disorder that may lead to psychological scaring, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2006).
When dealing with children that are abused one must be patient when asking questions, being too forceful will confuse the child and deter them from answering questions in the future. Most rape victims consider themselves to be the culprit, in their mind they think that it happened to them because they did something wrong. As the Psychologist, you must make every effort to let the child know that you are their friend helping them through a hard time. Explaining that they are not in the wrong is an important start Garland (2006) .
Children that have been sexually abused show the following symptoms according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2006): poor self image, sexual acting out, inability to trust or love others, aggressiveness, disruptiveness, illegal behaviour, anger and rage, self destructive or self abusive behaviour, suicidal thoughts, passive, anxiety and fears, school problems or failure, feelings of sadness or other symptoms of depression, flashbacks, nightmares, drug and alcohol usage, sleeping disorders, with drawn or clingy behaviour, and fear of entering into new relationships or activities.
Research that shows children that may be in abusive situations display a number of reactions that effect their psychological well being such as irregular playing habits and the tendency to be shy or shun away adults that come close them, Maddocks, Griffiths, Antao (1998).
Legally a child is able to testify as long as the presenter is able to prepare the child for court. First, a child witness must pass the voir dire hearing; this hearing is to make sure that the child is old enough to know they have to tell the truth in court. The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment and the Hearsay Rule will most likely not allow statements of absent child victims. This means that if the child is a victim they must testify against the defendants. The creditability of the child may be an issue if they have had mental problems in the past; the defense is then able to claim that what the child witness says is a fictional story. Having other evidence to support what the child witness claims will help the court make its decision, Garland (2006).
The Legal Points of Sexual abuse require the perpetrators to be older than the victim. Most sexual abusers know the children from family or prior engagement. The sexual abusers that do not know the child usually make contact with children at school or over the internet. In criminal cases, the prosecutor’s job is to protect the society from sexual abusers. The prosecutor usually decides what charges are going to be admitted to court and whether they are filed or dismissed Garland (2006).
In child protection cases the child is to be protected from the perpetrator in most cases they are the victims own parents or primary care givers. The child is placed under custody of other family or in foster care for the duration of their youth according to The National Child Traumatic Stress Network. When dealing with child witnesses it is very important not to mislead the child into responding the way you want them to respond to the courts questions. Taping the initial testimony is important for the Police Officers and Psychologists involved in the telling of the abuse and what occurred. Make sure to leave the witness with the decision of positive and negative responses to the questions asked by the psychologist and Police Officers to make sure that your questions are not misleading. In many cases, the child that is being abused tries to protect the defendant because of close relationship. The psychological effect on the abused child may lead them to dislike the witness, especially if they think the witnesses are lying, The National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
Child Sexual abuse can be a number of actions that take place between a younger child and an adult or older child. These actions may include kissing, fondling of genitals, oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse. Some of the ways perpetrators can abuse children include forcing children to watch pornography, flashing, verbal pressure for sex, and sexual exploitation for purpose of prostitution or pornography according to Whealin, Barnett (2009). The trial and the recovery for abused children may take a lifetime to combat feelings of social disorder and being misled by others last through the abused child’s whole life, The National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
References:
Garland Norman M. (2006) McGraw Hill Criminal Evidence Fifth Edition
Green, Edie / Heilbrun, Kirk / Fortune, William H. / Nietzel, Michael T. / (2010) © Cengage Learning, Wrightsman’s Psychology and the Legal System, 6e
Maddocks, Alison/ Griffiths, Lesley/ and Antao, Vera Department of Community Child Health, Swansea NHS Trust, School of Health Science, University of Wales,Ystrad Mynach Hospital, Wales, UK. (1998) Detecting child sexual abuse in general practice: a retrospective case-control study from Wales
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network from source: www.NCTSN.org
Whealin, Julia and Barnett, Erin PhD National Center for PSD (2009) Child Sexual Abuse from source http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/child-sexual-abuse.asp
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