An Assault From Within On The Next Generation

In my latest endeavors I am back in school part-time and in my current studies forced to take a psychology class. In this class we study all types of social issues and each of us have been ask to pick a topic that directly affects society and the toll that our chosen topic could carry into the next generation.

Mmmm, the next generation; that got me to thinking about the things that I read and encounter daily within my life and my profession. Being a nurse I do come across bad things but there is always "sunshine behind the clouds" as my grandmother would say except for one area, our babies. It has always amazed and shook me at the astounding amounts of child murders and crimes against children that we currently have here in the USA. How common it now seems to be to pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV and hear or see some unbelievable story about the latest victims amongst our youngest and most innocent of citizens, but what really "knocks me off my rocker" is how many of these crimes are at the hands of an adult. Not just any adult, but at the hands of their own parents. How many times have we seen a mother leave her small child with a man and come home to find that child dead or with suspicious injuries. How many times do we need to see a mother stand and cry in court about how she had no idea that the abuse was occurring only to find out not only did she know, but the authorities had been tipped as well.

Now I grew up in a stern christian home and I will be the first to admit that I wrestle personally with the idea of the death penalty, except for when it comes to children and the elderly. I have absolutely no empathy for an individual who would attack and kill the innocent and defenseless, but have we become to soft within our criminal system when it comes to some crimes? I will also be the first to admit that my mother ruled with an "iron hand", literally. I have had many "whippings" for various things but never did my mother even at her angriest time whip me or my siblings to the point that our bodies need medical attention not to mention an autopsy. I do believe there is a profound difference between discipline and abuse.

Below are some statistics and also some of the recent cases within the last few years that are an example of should we as society be more aggressive with our laws that govern parents and their treatment of their children.

Maternal filicide, or child murder by mothers, occurs more frequently in the United States than in other developed nations. However, little is known about factors that confer risk to children.

Among children under age 5 years in the United States who were murdered in the last quarter of the 20th century, 61% were killed by their own parents: 30% were killed by their mothers, and 31% by their fathers (1). Estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 1994 indicated that homicide was the fourth leading cause of death for preschool children and the third leading cause of death among children from ages 5–14 years (2). In the United States, the incidence of homicide of children less than 1 year old has increased over the past quarter-century.

Below are some study cases that I plan to use for my thesis, I would like others input on these to present a broad account of society's take on them and how they should be a study format to hopefully put an end to this type of crime.

1) After deliberating roughly 3 1/2 hours, a Pima County jury found Christopher Payne guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of his 3-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son in the summer of 2006.Prosecutors Susan Eazer and Bunkye Chi believe Payne starved Ariana and Tyler to death in a bedroom closet and then hid their bodies for months, first at his apartment on West 36th Street and then later at a storage facility on West Prince Road.
Ariana's remains were found Feb. 18, 2007, stuffed in a 25-gallon plastic tub in a trash bin at a Prince Road storage unit. Police believe Tyler's remains were missed inside the trash bin and ended up at a landfill.

2) MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Lam Luong was found guilty Thursday on all five counts of capital murder for throwing his children off the Dauphin Island Bridge on January 7, 2008.Lam Luong was found guilty on five counts of capital murder for throwing four-month-old Danny, three-year-old Ryan, two-year-old Hannah and one-year-old Lindsey off the Dauphin Island Bridge.A duck hunter found the remains of four-month-old Danny Luong in a marsh near Port Aux Pin.Danny wouldn't be the only discovery that weekend. His brother, three-year-old Ryan Phan, was found the next day, just three miles to the west in Bayou la Fouche Bay.Over the next few days temperatures plummeted, although the morale among the searchers remained high.It wasn't until Tuesday, January 15, more than a week since the children had been killed, when officers from Mississippi Marine Resources found the body of one-year-old Lindsey Luong near Pascagoula. At first forensic scientists weren't able to identify if the child was Lindsey or her sister, two-year-old Hannah Luong, because they're so close in age.

3) Murder suspect Casey Anthony stole as much as $45,000 from her parents and nearly caused them to lose their home, her grandmother told Orange County sheriff's investigators. In the initial 31 days that passed while Caylee was supposedly with her mother, Casey Cindy Anthony told her peers that she wanted to talk to Caylee, but Casey always gave her an excuse why she could not. "And you know I just mentioned to Cindy once, I said, 'That just doesn't sound right,'" co-worker Charles Crittenden told detectives. Caylee Anthony's skeletal remains were discovered six months after she was reported missing about 1/4 mile from her families home.

4) Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said county children services heard no complaints of physical abuse when it was called to investigate an 18-month-old boy who later died due to blows to his head. Joseph K. Moran, 25, has been charged with murder after the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, coroner's office determined Christopher Joy Jr. died early Monday as a result of multiple blunt impacts to the head resulting in brain injury. Moran was watching the boy while the child's mother, Mollie Beck, was at work. Moran and Beck were living together at a Richmond home.

5) Cynthia L. Redman, 24, was sentenced Thursday to 30 years to life in prison after she pleaded guilty to aggravated murder for the May 19 death of 11-month-old Madison Redman. In exchange for her plea, prosecutors dismissed a death penalty specification and a second count of murder. The motive for the murder was jealousy, Mansfield police Detective Jeff Shook said. "She wanted that baby out of the way," Shook said. "She felt she came between her and her husband. She was hopeful that once the baby was out of the way, he would come back to her."

6) Barely a few months old, Kyla Hall had been abused before. A year and a half later the toddler wouldn't survive another round.The 22-month-old was killed by blunt-force trauma in November. Last week authorities charged 24-year-old Josi Montell Hall with second-degree murder in his daughter's death, according to an arrest report released Friday by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Police responded Nov. 1 to Hall's home in the 3700 block of San Pablo Road, where the girl was pronounced dead. Hall, who had custody of the girl and was alone in the apartment, said he picked up his daughter from a baby sitter at 4 p.m. and called 14 hours later when he found her unresponsive. A medical examiner determined the death was caused by force, and it was ruled a homicide. Hall and the girl's mother, 22-year-old Ashley Monet Saffore, also were arrested in 2007 and charged with aggravated child abuse and child neglect of the infant.

There is so much more that my mind has become numb with the details of one child's death after another. There are so many other cases that have been tried with questionable results and some where trial is still pending. But where does it stop or will it ever. When does society say "enough is enough", that we are not going to tolerate the murder of innocent children even if it should come at the hands of parents. When does the laws get strict enough to send a message to single mothers that you are responsible for that child and the man in your life that you're willing subject that child too. Should a woman who is guilty of serious neglect or murder of her child be permanently sterilized in order to prevent her from ever being able to give birth again?

How much will it take and when will we decide that our laws need to change, that any child who suffers at the hands of a parent should be protected to the fullest extent of the law. It is strange that we worry about our money and the economic situation as rightfully we should, but let us not forget our "little people" or are we saying that they are no longer a priority in our society?

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