Crime Victim
Routine Activities: A person’s activities or daily patterns impact the risk of being a crime victim. For example, a person’s routine activities increase the probability they will contact motivated offenders. Principle of homogamy: According to this principle, the more frequently a person comes into contact with persons in demographic groups with likely offenders, the more likely the person will be victimized. A summation between the chapters will provide full credits Child Maltreatment and Elder abuse Child Maltreatment can take two major forms: abuse and neglect. Abuse coccus when a person harms a child (a person under the age of majority in a state, usually 18 years). It consists of actions done to a child rather than what a person fails to do for a child. Types of child maltreatment: 1. Physical abuse: Deliberate attempt to harm a child. It can be distinguished from discipline by one question. Is the action intended to teach the child right from wrong or create a life of fear for the child? Examples: Hitting, Burning, Slapping 2. Emotional abuse: Damaging to the childs mental health candor social development often leaves psychological marks. Examples: Belittling, shaming, and humiliating a child Name-calling and making negative comparisons to others Telling a child he or she is “no good,” “worthless,” “bad,” or “a mistake Frequent yelling, threatening, or bullying Ignoring or rejecting a child as punishments using the silent treatment Withholding hugs, kisses, and other forms of physical contact from the child. Exposing the child to violence or the abuse of others. 3. Neglect Parents or caregivers do not provide the child’s basic needs, such as adequate food, clothing, hygiene, and supervision. Examples: Physical failure to provide necessary food or shelter or lack of appropriate supervision Medical: failure to provide necessary medical or mental health treatment Educational: failure to educate a child or attend education needs. Emotional: inattention to a child’s emotional needs, failure to provide psychological care, or permitting he child o use alcohol or other drugs 4. Sexual: Rape, sexual assault, molestation, prostitution, or sexual exploitation of a child; also includes incest with children. Involving children in sexually explicit conduct or simulation to produce a visual depiction of conduct is also child sexual abuse. Who are Victims of Child Maltreatment: Based on reports to child protection service agencies, the “typical” victim of child maltreatment is quite young. In fact, victims from birth to 1-year-old had the highest rate of victimization. About 70% of children who died from child maltreatment were under the age of 3. Female children are more likely than male children to be victims of child sexual abuse. On the other hand, male children are at greater risk of dying from child maltreatment than are female children. Who Perpetrates Child Maltreatment: To understand the causes of child maltreatment, it is particularly instructive to identify the perpetrator of the abuse. Data from the NCANDS show that biological parents are the most likely perpetrators of chidden maltreatment reported to child protective services. More than 90% of child maltreatment victims in 2014 were victimized by one of both sexual cases of abuse. Individual Risk Factors: Factors specific to the individual are also related to the risk of child abuse. According to social learning theory, abusive behavior is learned behavior. In this way, people abuse or neglect their children because they experienced or witnessed such behavior when they were younger. Assignment: The two youngest individuals convicted of Murder: The youngest to be executed for Murder A fight over some strawberries that summer had prompted Hannah to kill 6-year-old Eunice Bolles, the daughter of a prominent New London family, historians say. The hanging is the last documented execution of a female in Connecticut. Hannah also bears the unfortunate distinction of being the youngest female ever put to death in this country, says a leading expert on the death penalty. According to Streib’s research, an angry Hannah lured her young victim into a wooded area on July 21, 1786, by offering her a piece of calico. Once out of view, Hannah pummeled Eunice with a stone and strangled her to death. According to various historical accounts cited by Streib, she then covered the body with stones from a nearby wall to make Eunice’s death appear to be an accident. Investigators arrested Hannah the next day. She burst into tears and confessed after being forced to view the young victim’s body. According to the historical accounts, abandoned by her mother at an early age and believed to be retarded, Hannah seemed unconcerned about her fate during her trial. While spectators wept, the judge found the heinous nature of Hannah’s crime outweighed any mental incapacity. “You have killed, and that in a barbarous and cruel manner, an innocent, helpless and harmless child,” said the judge, identified only as Judge Law in Streib’s published account of the case. Hannah seemed unmoved about her death sentence until the day of her execution when a visitor informed her of her fate. Witnesses reported that Hannah said little as she stood on the scaffold awaiting her punishment. She “appeared greatly afraid and seemed to want somebody to help her.” Lionel Tate, the youngest person to be convicted of Murder: Lionel Alexander Tate (born January 30, 1987) is the youngest American citizen ever sentenced to life imprisonment (Links to an external site.) without the possibility of parole (Links to an external site.) . In January 2001, when Tate was 13, he was convicted of first-degree murder (Links to an external site.) for the 1999 battering death of six-year-old Tiffany Eunick in Broward County, Florida (Links to an external site.) . On July 28, 1999, Tate was left alone with Eunick, being babysat by Tate’s mother, Kathleen Grossett-Tate. While the children were playing downstairs, Tate’s mother called to them to be quiet. Tate came up 45 minutes later to say that Eunick was not breathing. He said that while they were wrestling, he had her in a headlock and the child’s head hit a table. Although some considered this to be an accident, this was acknowledged as murder. Reflection Assignment Instructions: In previous chapters, we have read that people become victims because of routine activities and there are motivated offenders preying on those individuals. Now that you have read the youth’s stories, please answer the following questions with a short response. Did you recognize any similarities in their characteristics, parental absences, and ADA disabilities? Are youth victims? Or Motivated Offenders?
