1. I
consider child abuse any type of injury to a child that is detrimental to them.
I believe that child abuse can be both mental and physical whether it’s
physically beating a child, starving them, or degrading them verbally.
2. I
personally don’t think spanking is child abuse, because I was spanked as a kid
and I don’t feel like it was abuse. But I feel like it can come to that because
some parents take it to the point of abuse and then try to justify their
actions by defining it as “spanking”.
·
It’s hard for me to decide whether or
not spanking should be allowed because there are a lot of variables and I also
feel that it depends on the child. Some children need to be spanked just cause
that’s the only way they will learn not to misbehave, however some people can
learn right or wrong just by being grounded, or put in time out. Additionally
like I previously mentioned, I just feel like spanking leaves room for abuse to
happen. So I am on the fence about it.
3. I
think punishment in public should become a public concern when it gets out of
control. For instance my friend works at home depot and had to call the police
on a woman who was basically punching her child in the face in public. The
child was autistic, did something the mother didn’t like, and then the lady
just snapped and started wailing on her child. The worst part is everyone else
just watched. So obviously that would be
a situation that got out of hand.
·
I would say an acceptable form of
punishment would be like slapping a child on the wrist or hand, or reprimanding
them if need be.
·
Unacceptable public punishment would be
to pull your child’s pants down and spank them on the spot.
4.
Whether in the Phoenix area, or
anywhere in Arizona “Sexual Exploitation of a Minor” (i.e. “Child Pornography”)
is a class two felony. The crime is
committed if any person knowingly records, films, photographs, duplicates,
develops, sells, purchases, transports, or electronically transmits or receives
any visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexual conduct or exploitive exhibition.
This is a very broad statute and covers a wide range of potentially innocent
conduct. If the photographs include children who are fourteen (14) years of age
or younger, it is a Dangerous Crimes against Children (DCAC) and carries a very
severe penalty. A first offense carries the following punishment for each and
every conviction: ten (10) years minimum in prison; seventeen (17) years
presumptive in prison; twenty-four (24) years maximum incarceration. The maximum penalty on a Sexual Exploitation
charge actually carries more time than the maximum penalty on a Second Degree
Murder charge.
·
Arizona takes sexting just as serious as
its child porn laws. It has been a major problem there and holds the same
penalty of the child porn statute which carries a presumption prison term of 17
years with no probation.
·
They define sexting as using a mobile
phone or any other means to: record, film, photograph, develop
or duplicate, distribute, transport, exhibit, receive, sell, purchase,
electronically transmit, possess, or exchange any visual depiction in which a
minor is involved in exploitative exhibition or other sexual conduct.
·
I think that sexting should be punished,
but that the severity is dependent on the situation. I feel like if a minor
really is being exploited by his/her offender, like being blackmailed or
something, then obviously the offender should be severely punished depending on
what he did with the picture. By this I mean some jail time if need be, or
something else that fits the crime. However many young adults in this day and
age sext freely without thinking of the consequences, some girls are fine with
the world seeing their goodies, so I feel as if they shouldn’t be given as much
sympathy if they put themselves in that position in the first place.
5. http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/20496390/2013/01/03/hundreds-arrested-in-child-exploitation-probe
This article is about “Operation
Sunflower” which was launched in November, as a worldwide month long
international child-porn investigation. Three amongst two hundred forty five
offenders were found in Phoenix, Arizona. Authorities held that 44 children
were rescued from their abusers and 79 were identified as either being
exploited by others outside their home or are now adults who were victimized as
children. Five were under the age of three. Among those arrested were
51-year-old Gerald Roberts, of Pageland, S.C., who is accused of producing
child pornography using a 6-year-old girl. Roberts, who has pleaded not guilty,
was arrested Nov. 8 and is facing federal charges. Michael Wioskowski, 54, of
Eastpointe, Mich., was arrested Nov. 27 on charges of possession and receipt of
child pornography. Investigators found a video in his home of two underage
girls showering at his house when they served a warrant at his home. Wioskowski
was a court security officer and formerly a reserve police officer in Michigan.
6.
Media
The first link is a
child abuse PSA shows a little girl being verbally and physically abused from
when she is little to about sixteen years old and then she runs away because it’s
too much for her.
The second link is the movie
trailer for the movie Precious based off of the critically acclaimed novel Push. This movie is about a young girl
who is abused by her mother and who was also sexually abused by her father, and
the effects it had on her growing up.
