Online:
Visits:
Stories:
Profile image
By Ideas for the Environment (Reporter)
Contributor profile | More stories
Story Views

Now:
Last Hour:
Last 24 Hours:
Total:

Wilful Neglect and the Abuse of Children

Tuesday, March 3, 2015 3:17
% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

(Before It's News)

The abuse of children must be one of the worst crimes that humanity can devise. Abusers ought to be punished and those who are paid to protect children should be vigilant and careful in their jobs. Teachers, local authority employees, social workers, police and other organisations are paid to protect children. I must say that I am troubled by a proposal to extend the crime of wilful neglect to cover those categories of people who could, if they fail to carry out their duties properly, face up to five years in prison and unlimited fines.

I do not think that creating a new crime will mean greater protection of children. It may, ironically, mean less protection of children because there will be a discouragement for people to serve as child protectors. It also is likely to mean a greater number of innocent people accused of child abuse because in exercising their judgment in these matters child protectors may err so far over the line of caution that we will see witch hunts and many families disrupted.

We should remember that in 1987 more than 120 children were removed from their families in Middlesbrough and Cleveland when two paediatricians wrongly diagnosed the children as suffering from abuse. Eventually 94 children were returned to their homes.

I am sure that creating new crimes with new laws will create more problems than it solves. It seems to me to be clear that resources, training and money spent on child protection is money well spent and it is clear that not enough money is spent on this.

Filed under: climate change Tagged: abuse of children, Cleveland, crime, justice, law, wilful neglect



Source: https://robertkyriakides.wordpress.com/2015/03/03/wilful-neglect-and-the-abuse-of-children/

Report abuse

Comments

Your Comments
Question   Razz  Sad   Evil  Exclaim  Smile  Redface  Biggrin  Surprised  Eek   Confused   Cool  LOL   Mad   Twisted  Rolleyes   Wink  Idea  Arrow  Neutral  Cry   Mr. Green

Top Stories
Recent Stories

Register

Newsletter

Email this story
Email this story

If you really want to ban this commenter, please write down the reason:

If you really want to disable all recommended stories, click on OK button. After that, you will be redirect to your options page.