There are 148,200 women in state and federal prisons (AI USA). African-American girls and women are becoming a fast growing population in our prisons and jails nation-wide. While much attention has been focused on the plight of young African-American males, girls have been involved in gangs, school fights, juvenile prisons and vandalism at a rate faster than that of boys. Also, the big issue that imprisoned women face is sexual assault and misconduct against them. In examining the reasons why women commit these crimes, Professor Johnson speaks of her recently published book, Inner Lives: Voices of African American Women in Prison.
“During the 1990’s, the nation’s prison population increased by 50 percent, the number of children who had a parent in prison increased by the same proportion, from 1 million to 1.5 million children, these children represent 2 percent of all minor children in America” (Travis & Waul, 2003, p. 3). Overall, imprisonment places an indescribable burden on the relationships between parents and their children. Incarcerated parents must learn how to cope with the loss of normal contact with their children, infrequent visits in inhospitable surroundings, and lost opportunities to contribute to their children’s development. The children must come to terms with the harsh reality of an absent parent, and the stigma of parental imprisonment, as well as the altered support of the family system that may include grandparents, foster care, or a new adult in the home. Children whose parents have been arrested and incarcerated face unique difficulties.
“Children of incarcerated parents have numerous problems related to emotional health, school performance, and general health and well-being” (Day, Acock, Bagher, Adritti 2005, p.187). Many prisoners come out of prison with not only psychological issues, but other health issues as well. “The familial aspect of prison life is important to understand because the issues facing couples are complicated and tie directly into
Violence against children it doesn’t happens only in America it happens everywhere, in every country and society and across all social groups, but America is the highest in violence against children. When we talk about violence is not always about killing. In some cases violence occur by parents especially mothers that don’t want their children. They throw them away, some parents leave their children with their families but never return, in others cases they have been sold or given away by their parents. Children are most frequently sexually abused by someone they know, often a member of their own family.
Domestic Abuse / The Homeless Marie Ribail Domestic violence is defined as emotionally and/or physically controlling an intimate partner, often involving tactics such as physical assault, stalking, and sexual assault (Domesticviolence.org). Approximately one out of every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime and 1.3 million women are victims of domestic violence each year. Victims of domestic violence lost about 8 million days of paid work because of the violence that they experienced. 4.1 million dollars is spent directly to on mental health and medical services for domestic violence victims (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence). Considering the cost and prevalence, as well as the direct relationship between housing and domestic violence, a majority of homeless women are victims of domestic violence.
In 1970-2000, there were significant changes in family life such as marriage rate fell by 40%, divorce rates doubled, cohabitation increased but 52% of them split up after having a child. Under these circumstances, child being abandoned or living without parenting increased rapidly. Gradually, broken families became broken society. According to the Britain and American research, children of separated families or been abandon are twice as likely to have behavior problems such as performing less well at schools, smoking, turn to drugs , do heavy drinking, relying in gun justice. They do whatever they want, such as thieving, committing crimes, but adults
The Effects of Maternal Substance Abuse on Children Before and After Birth Abstract Maternal substance abuse is a major problem in today’s society and can cause severe damage to children before and after birth. This paper examines the effects that maternal substance abuse has on children before and after birth. The most common substances abused by pregnant women are alcohol, cigarettes, and illicit drugs such as marijuana and cocaine. Studies show that 27% of women abuse one of these substances while being pregnant. Each substance can cause severe and permanent damage to children before and even after birth.
Battering is the single major cause of injury to women, more significant that auto accidents, rapes, or muggings. In fact, the emotional and psychological abuse inflicted by batterers may be more costly to treat in the short-run than physical injury. Many of the physical injuries sustained by women seem to cause medical difficulties as women grow older. Arthritis, hypertension and heart disease have been identified by battered women as directly caused or aggravated by domestic violence suffered early in their adult lives. The only way for you to break the cycle of domestic violence is to take action, and the sooner you it the better.
His biological mother was on illegal drugs and his father was in jail. Matthew had four biological half sisters and one full sister; all of them had already been adopted or were in the process of adoption by different families. Unfortunately, this is a common story for many children in the United States. The number of foster children is on the rise due to many causes. “As of the middle of 2016, more than 18,000 Arizona children are living
The prevalence of child abuse is outlandish. So many children around the world are physically, sexually, emotionally, and mentally abused while in care for their parents. In detail, research shows “Nearly 700,000 children are abused in the U.S annually” (The National Children Alliance). Furthermore, “in 2008 there were roughly 22.9% fatalities” (Barnett, Perrin & Perrin, 2011, pg.147). For this reason, more attention must be brought to the public regarding this matter.