Child Exploitation in U.S

Child Exploitation in U.S

Introduction

There are many ways to exploit people and even easier to abuse children or to use them for nefarious purposes, as they are unable to appropriately defend themselves. The issue is prevalent not only in the developing world; but it also has a major cognitive impact on the population in the developed world, a symbol of which is the United States of America. Sexual abuse, neglect, maltreatment, kidnapping are all ubiquitous ways in which children are exploited. As a result, the range of abuse remains particularly extensive as well as varied; it is therefore impractical for experts to maintain one definite explanation or classification of it (Ali, 2009).

In the U.S, every state has it's a different definition of child neglect and abuse which is based on standards that have been set up by federal law. Nevertheless, the phrases 'child neglect and abuse' are used in similar contexts in both state and federal laws. For example, maltreatment of children is defined by the federal act CAPTA (Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act) as the failure of the primary caregiver or parents to act suitably on the behalf of the child, due to which death, serious physical or emotional injury or harm occurs (www.childwelfare.gov, 2008). Moreover, CAPTA also blames the failure to act resulting in a situation which could possibly result in harm, as a punishable act (USDJ, 2007).

According to certain figures by the UNICEF, more than twenty thousand children are believed to have been killed by their own family members in the past decade; making it almost four times the number of American soldiers who have been killed in war situations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Such alarming statistics highlight the United States as one of the worst record holders of child exploitation within the modern world. In an independent study carried out in 2007, nearly one million children in US were found to be victims of neglect and abuse. However, due to several state and local governmental programs, community organizations and citizens' endeavors which are praiseworthy, especially those that started in the past two decades and created much needed awareness amongst the public about the issue of child exploitation, have helped in making child protection an issue hard to ignore (Radford, 2011).

Discussion

Child Exploitation in Washington State

According to the estimations of The Child Welfare League of America, in 2004, more than seventy three thousand cases related to child exploitation; abuse and neglect, were reported in only the state of Washington. This represented an approximately twelve percent increase in comparison to the statistics from 2003. Out of these reported cases, almost thirty three thousand cases were investigated by the authorities and less than seven thousand cases were substantiated. Out of these validated cases, more than eighty percent of them were related to neglect, eighteen were related to physical abuse, and approximately six percent were found to be related to sexual abuse. Moreover, it is widely believed that the actual number of child exploitation cases is even ...