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The Furor over Recalling Repressed Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse A therapist who is also a sociologist writes a memoir in which she claims that she can now remember how her father abused her when she was a little girl. She believes she has finally figured out why she suffered pain and bleeding between her […]

More Controversies Surrounding Childhood Sexual Abuse Intense controversies have broken out over the real extent of sexual abuse during childhood. One area of contention surrounds charges of parent–child incest, especially allegations of father–daughter (and stepfather–daughter) sexual contacts. These accusa- tions usually arise during divorce proceedings or shortly afterward. In addition, molestation charges sometimes are leveled

Trends in the Rate of Child Abuse As for changes over time, the fourth NIS study found that maltreatment declined by 26 percent since the third NIS survey in 1993. The level of maltreatment in 2005–2006 had dropped to the level observed in the second NIS survey, which was carried out in 1986. In other

Maximalist Versus Minimalist Approaches to the Seriousness of the Problem Maximalist Arguments The maximalist perspec- tive contends that the time has come to reject the reluctance of earlier generations to face the facts and to recognize the enormity of the crisis. Parents are abusing and neglecting their children in record numbers, and pedophiles, sadistic adolescents,

Estimates of the Incidence, Prevalence, and Seriousness of Child Abuse The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO, 2011) issued a report that concluded that more accurate statistics are needed because it is difficult to determine the true depth and breadth of the problem in the absence of reliable information. The two official sources of crime statistics,

The Rediscovery of Child Abuse Beliefs about what constitutes child abuse— physical, sexual, and emotional—remain the sub- ject of much debate. Legal definitions of child maltreatment and neglect clearly are socially con- structed: They evolve as time passes, and they dif- fer from country to country and even between subcultures within a society. For centuries,

Protecting Children from Kidnappers As parents and their children have become more conscious about “stranger danger,” they have incor- porated preventive steps into their daily routines in a myriad of ways. Youngsters are instructed by police officers, teachers, and parents “what to do if …” as well as through comic book characters, board games, songs,

The Amber Alert System During the late 1990s, Amber Alert systems were set up in many states and received support from the federal government in 2003 to help searchers enlist the cooperation of the public. Amber stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, but the system is named after a nine-year-old girl who was kidnapped

Hunting for Children Who Have Vanished A 12-year-old girl and her two friends are enjoying a slumber party when they hear a knock on the bed- room door. When it is opened, a tall, bearded man wielding a large knife barges in. As her two friends giggle, thinking it is a practical joke, the intruder

Accounting for the Remaining Cases of Children Reported as Missing The NISMART–2 study concluded that of the nearly 800,000 children who were reported missing to police or child-search agencies, almost 360,000 (45 percent) turned out to be either runaways or throwaways (driven out of their homes). A roughly equal amount, 340,000 (43 percent), were consid-