Reporting the Act of Sexual Abuse Against Children

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Rationale
Discussion
Stakeholders
Nurses
District Specifications
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The given paper will address the 218th legislature of the State of New Jersey of Assembly no. 850, which upgrades the penalty for failing to report the act of sexual abuse against children. It states that if a person fails to report child abuse is disorderly and guilty of the fourth crime. It is evident that the harshness and severity of punishment in the State of New Jersey for failing to report are much higher than in other states. The given legislature puts individuals and professionals who work with children and take full or partial care of them vulnerable to being a part of the child abuse incident. The main change is the fact that failing to report is now considered to be the fourth crime.

Rationale

The main reason for selecting the given legislation is the fact that it has a direct impact on health care workers who work with children. The problem of child abuse has now become the subject of active discussion in society and the direction of multiple initiatives by the state designed to significantly improve the situation with regard to children. At the same time, it is regrettable to note that cases of child abuse are still not uncommon, and the problem itself is still far from being resolved. The issue of cruelty in relation to children can be attributed to one of the complex ones. When posing the problem of brutality as a subject of research, several difficulties are immediately revealed. Two significant aspects of these difficulties can be identified (Davidov, Sigad, Lev-Wiesel, & Eisikovits, 2017). Firstly, the scientific interpretation of the concept conflicts with its common understanding. Society, parents, adults interacting with children demonstrate a high degree of tolerance to violence and cruelty.

This conclusion is based on the results of a study of the individual characteristics of parent-child relationships. In support of the thesis, it should be noted that upbringing in various families is prohibitive and compulsory. From the perspective of adolescents, restrictive measures, moral pressure exerted on them by parents, and verbal censure are common educational methods. Estimates of parents on this issue differ significantly at times lower than those of adolescents. This is especially noticeable in assessments of physical punishments; their presence in educational practice was noted by 37% of adolescents and 4% of parents, and neglect of a child, adolescents – 31.2%, parents – 5.6%. Moreover, estimates of the frequency of verbal censure were very close: adolescents – 78.8%, parents – 64.2% (Babakhanlou & Beattie, 2019). Thus, one can note the desire of parents to disguise the presence of physical punishment in the educational process, the desire to demonstrate the socially approved characteristics of the family educational environment and the image of the right parent, since it is known that cruelty and physical punishment as a social phenomenon are condemned by society.

Discussion

In society, the concept of “cruel attitude” is defined through the prism of physical influences. In the minds of most parents, child abuse is just the use of physical punishment. Such a narrow interpretation of cruelty fixes other non-physical forms of violence as a kind of social norm and makes it difficult to level it. Such types of parental influences as coercion, prohibitions, insults, threats, and lack of care are not considered by adults as cruelty and, therefore, are not hidden in the answers (Pozgar, 2019). Adults are not accustomed to seeing multiple manifestations of cruelty, including the authoritarianism of education.

The second difficulty, which attracts attention, is associated, from the point of view of the authors, with the significant fragmentation of the terms used in the interpretation of the concept of child abuse. The list of human actions identified with this concept is too large, from fighting and insulting to child trafficking and abortion, and the range of mutually complementary and synonymous cruelty terms is significant – violence, aggression, neglect, and cruelty (Davidov et al., 2017). The consequence of this is the difficulty in defining this concept and highlighting clear criteria for its identification. It is logical to assume that a real solution to the problem of child abuse will be difficult, firstly, without changing the position of adults on this issue, understanding of the need to build relationships with children in a family of a different quality, and secondly, without the terminological ordering of this concept. When determining child abuse, it is necessary to take into account the integral interdisciplinary nature of the problem, which can be classified as universal. This, in turn, requires the need to take into account the development of this problem in various fields of science that address cruelty issues in a social, pedagogical, legal, philosophical, and psychological application.

In domestic science, a single approach to understanding abuse has not yet been developed. In modern studies, in most cases, it is either identified with certain forms of violence and cruelty, such as physical, sexual, psychological, and moral, or attempts are made to derive related terms. Understanding the concept through synonymous terminology, from the point of view of the authors, does not allow to penetrate the internal content of the studied phenomenon. In this regard, it seems necessary to search for criteria that can reflect the inner essence of child abuse (Babakhanlou & Beattie, 2019). Without going deeper or quoting the work of scientists considering individual aspects of the problem, with regard to terminological definitions, it is critical to note that in domestic psychological science, there are two main approaches to the description of the concept of “child abuse.” Representatives of both the first and second approaches to the interpretation of the term adhere to its broad understanding, referring to child abuse not only physical but also sexual, psychological, mental, and emotional abuse and neglect of the child’s moral cruelty. However, discrepancies are observed in the choice of criteria for determining the concept.

Most authors offer external behavioral signs of the phenomenon being defined as criteria for determining the concept of “child abuse.” In this case, the wording of the child’s cruel treatment is carried out by listing the actions committed by adults or by stating the signs, consequences that such actions may lead to. Especially the inclusion of these two interrelated parts in the definition of child abuse is stipulated in various works giving a broader interpretation of it by clarifying the nature of parental actions, their activity or passivity (Sigad, Davidov, Lev-Wiesel, & Eisikovits, 2016). Cruel treatment and neglect of the basic needs of the child are understood as any actions or inaction in relation to the child by the parents, persons replacing them, or other adults, as a result of which the health and social well-being of the child are impaired. Also, conditions are created that interfere with his/her optimal physical and mental development, and his/her rights and freedom are infringed.

Stakeholders

The major stakeholder who is affected by the given legislation and whose stance is vital to consider is the American Academy of Pediatrics. This organization is in direct contact with children, and many abusive parents can be part of their influence. Thus, the increase in punishment severity for failing to report an incident can be detrimental for AAP. Considering this approach, it is believed that the vast majority of our theoretical and practical developments are based on a formal perception of the research of modern scientists without penetrating their essence. This approach began to take into account the demands of social and legal practice and largely borrowed the definitions of ill-treatment formulated in the writings of researchers (Davidov et al., 2017). The approach based on fixing the external signs of this phenomenon was subordinated to the requirements of a practical solution to an urgent problem: determining a list of social responses and punishing adults for child abuse, highlighting various forms of cruelty, and diagnosing them.

Nurses

The professional nursing field is another party that can become the primary victim of the given legislation because they are in direct contact with both children and their parents. The most critical notion for nurses is to be able to distinguish whether child abuse is being committed or not. Two criteria can be proposed that clarify the concept of non-violence and, at the same time, can serve as criteria for cruel treatment. Firstly, non-violence is a denial of coercion in the process of a person’s interaction with other people, a recognition of the right to exist of what is inwardly classified by a person as an alien. Secondly, non-violence is an increase in the ability to positive self-manifestation, life-affirmation, reinforcement of the best features, qualities, manifestations (Sigad et al., 2016). Thus, following the logic of the opposite, the expression of violence is coercion in the process of people interacting with each other, leading to a weakening of personality traits, qualities, manifestations.

Studies of the phenomenon of cruelty and violence have repeatedly emphasized the relevance of this issue in the field of interpersonal relations, containing both the main sources of development of a child’s personality and the great risks of cruelty to children (Babakhanlou & Beattie, 2019). A discussion of the problem of violence and cruelty towards children within the framework of interpersonal relationships can be found in the definition of a suitable approach to the question of force from the position of ignoring human boundaries, such as physical and psychological, as a result of which the child’s personality is devalued in relations with adults. Attempts to consider cruelty through value refraction are not new. However, for the most part, this phenomenon is analyzed in the context of universal traits without an emphasis on personal content. So, the definition of cruelty through the category of values is available in legal psychology. Cruelty is considered as one of the forms of social pathology, using the value-normative approach.

The personality is characterized by them as a multidimensional and multi-level formation containing the central (nuclear) and peripheral parts. The core of the character, reflecting the life position, serves as the main psychological determinant of individual acts of its behavior. For a person as a social being, nuclear education is the value of another person, another self. Therefore, the basis of cruel actions is a violation of the value attitude to other people, which prompts a person to commit unfriendly acts and aggressive behavior. An act is defined as cruel if the human being is infringed in another person.

District Specifications

The current representative of Woodland Park, New Jersey, in Congress is Mikie Sherrill, and senators are Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (Democracy info for Woodland Park, NJ & Passaic County, 2019). In addition, the General Assembly representatives are Kevin J. Rooney and Christopher DePhillips (Democracy info for Woodland Park, NJ & Passaic County, 2019). In the framework of legal practice, the value of the other-self is of a generalizing nature and includes attitude to all of humanity, and cruelty, in the end, is an encroachment on public relations. However, in the context of family upbringing and interpersonal relations, the value of another takes on quite specific features. In family practice and family relationships, the value is the personality of the child, and then cruelty is an encroachment on the manifestation of personal self-realization of the child, the weakening of his/her personal life-affirming manifestations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, these theoretical provisions allow experts to highlight values as the main criterion for determining the concept of “child abuse in the family.” It seems possible to consider child abuse as a violation of the adult’s value attitude towards him/her. In the context of family education, child abuse in the family is understood as a violation of the parental value attitude to the child as an individual. At the same time, the emphasis in the educational practice of parents is shifted from the value-based, supportive attitude towards the child to domination and demonstration of their own rights and positions and cause destructive consequences for the child’s personality.

References

Babakhanlou, R., & Beattie, T. (2019). Child abuse. InnovAiT, 12(4), 180-187.

Davidov, J., Sigad, L. I., Lev-Wiesel, R., & Eisikovits, Z. (2017). Cross-disciplinary craftsmanship: The case of child abuse work. Qualitative Social Work, 16(5), 717-733.

Democracy info for Woodland Park, NJ & Passaic County. (2019). Web.

Pozgar, G. D. (2019). Legal and ethical issues for health professionals. New York, NY: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Sigad, L. I., Davidov, J., Lev-Wiesel, R., & Eisikovits, Z. (2016). Toxic knowledge: Self-alteration through child abuse work. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 31(3), 481-499.

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