CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE
STUDY
Child abuse
survivors may demonstrate certain characteristics in adulthood that can impede
their ability to function in everyday life and to maintain good, healthy
relationships with others. It should be noted, however, that each child abuse
survivor is an individual, and may manifest some characteristics but not
others. The differences among child abuse survivors are due to a number of
things, including genetics, social environment and whether or not the survivor
was able to receive therapy and support in dealing with his condition. Another
aspect that can have a significant impact on the characteristics of survivors
is the type and severity of abuse they experienced while growing up.
Victims of various types of abuse may
demonstrate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and may suffer
from both anxiety and depression. Child abuse survivors may resort to a variety
of coping mechanisms to help them manage their feelings and achieve some type
of normal functioning. For example, a child abuse survivor may abuse drugs or
alcohol as a way of “numbing” himself against unpleasant memories and psychic
pain. He may also have difficulty maintaining close and trusting relationships
with other people. In addition, mental health problems combined with
impairments in socialization may make it difficult for some child abuse
survivors to hold gainful employment.
However, different types of child abuse
can produce different long-lasting symptoms in survivors. In some cases, child
abuse survivors still bear physical symptoms of both physical and sexual child
abuse. For many survivors, this damage can contribute to emotional anguish and
make it difficult for the victim to achieve closure. Sexual child abuse
survivors may have difficulty establishing appropriate boundaries with others
in sexual and romantic relationships. The survivor may either act out in a
promiscuous manner or be overly compliant with a sexual partner regardless of
the victim's own needs and desires. Alternatively, the victim may develop an
abhorrence of physical contact and sexual behavior. Victims of mental child
abuse may develop defense mechanisms that can significantly impede their
ability to interact with others. These defense mechanisms may include becoming
overly submissive or, alternatively, aggressive in their relationships. These
victims may also find themselves keeping others at a distance through a lack of
trust. Alternatively, these victims may also find themselves acting in a way
that makes them easy targets for exploiters and abusers. As these victims may
have difficulty feeling comfortable with relationships that are not abusive,
they may either seek out or endure abusive relationships in adulthood. Sexual
abuse is a legal concept that describes unwanted or illegal sexual contact.
Depending on applicable laws, the term may be synonymous with, or separate
from, sexual assault. Sexual abuse definitions may include acts that may be
consensual but illegal, coerced sexual contact occurring under physical or
psychological threat, or other types of unwanted contact between the abuser and
victim. If unwanted or illegal
penetration occurs, the situation often falls under rape or assault laws,
rather than abuse laws. Abuse codes sometimes deal only with violations that
exclude actual sexual penetration, such as unwanted or illegal touches, or
illegal exposure to pornography.
Again, sexual abuse laws often deal with
the illegal sexual treatment of a minor or child. Abuse may occur between an
adult and child, or between two minors. Consent is typically not a factor in
child sex abuse cases, as a minor typically is not granted the right of
consent. Abuse laws may also protect those who are over the age of consent but
judged to be mentally incompetent. Those convicted of sexual abuse crimes may
be sentenced to jail time, psychological counseling, and restitution penalties.
Additionally, some regions have laws governing sex offenders even after jail
time is served. In some areas, a person convicted of a sexual crime such as
abuse may have to register permanently as an offender. Registered offenders may
be prohibited from living near schools or daycare facilities, working for
school systems, and may have their address and criminal record listed in a
public database.
According
to statistics, most sexual abuse crimes occur between family members or are
perpetrated by an authority figure such as a teacher or babysitter. Since many
victims are under psychological or physical threat, reporting and prosecution
of abuse is often difficult.
Many
regions also have accessory abuse laws, meaning that any person with knowledge
of abuse who does not report it may be subject to criminal charges and civil
lawsuits. Sexual abuse can also occur between spouses or romantic partners, and
may be considered a form of domestic abuse. For centuries, marriage or
cohabitation gave a male partner total sexual rights to the female, including
laws that affirmed that rape or sexual abuse could not occur between spouses.
In modern times, many legal systems have amended this concept to say that
unwanted sexual contact is a crime even between people who are sexually
involved. Many psychologists suggest that abuse of a sexual nature can be
severely traumatic to victims, often resulting in serious psychological issues
that may require extensive treatment to manage or overcome. Studies suggest
that many perpetrators of sexual crimes have been victims of similar crimes in
childhood. The importance of careful attention to possible signs of abuse is
considered by many experts to be a vital step both in stopping current abuse
and preventing future violations.
According to the united Nation (UN) standard, child
abuse is a condition of causing or permitting to occur, any form of offensive
or harmful contact on the body of the child, such a contact incorporated any form
of interaction, exchange or communication that brings shame, embarrassment,
fear or disgrace to the child.
This therefore, underscores the need to treat the child
with dignity and as an entity who when his feeling and emotional disposition
are unaffectionate tempered with, may degenerate into crisis.
However, a child is
abuse if a recent act or failure to act on the part of a exploitation or any
act or failure to act which involves imminent risk of serious harm (Khatric
2004). Child abuse refers simply to the maltreatment of the child, hardly does
a day pass by without a news report of a child who has been maltreated,
battered, sexually harassed, neglected or abandoned by people who were suppose
to look after them. Child abuse in Nigeria has a kind of institutionalized
posture not until recently, when many writers, commentators and scholars have
drawn the attention of the government and the general public to the incidence
of child abuse. The persistence of child abuse has been attributed to some
conditions that seems inevitable, and these conditions make families to fail in
their duty to the child which include to ensure growth, to give right scope for
emotional development and to preserve the art of parenthood as well as to teach
behavior. With the alteration of society by rapid socio-economic and political
changes various forms of child abuse have been identified, particularly in the
rural areas such as in Biase Local Government Area, where there is increase in
child labour and exploitation of children.
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