In Phoenix, a judge will have to decide if a 9 year old is competent to stand trial for the rape of an 8 year old. The teacher of the child reported that he wore the same clothes for months, came to school smelling bad, was often hungry, and did not do well in school. We do not know if the teacher reported the boy’s maltreatment to the child protective services. After this period of alleged neglect of his basic needs (clean clothes and adequate food) first degree rape, he and several other boys were accused of raping an 8 year old girl. Both what it is alleged that he did and what it is alleged was done to him were wrong. Should the children be held accountable for their actions, but should the parents be held accountable, as well?
We know that violence is related to having a childhood background of trauma and not receiving sufficient services to heal from the trauma and gain appropriate coping skills. We also know that children’s brains and skills are still developing, so if we want them to ever have the ability to function well in society, they need treatment to reduce their problems. Without treatment, they will have severe problems for a lifetime. So how and when do we provide needed services to maltreated children so they do not start mistreating others.
At a recent International Conference on Children and the Law in Prato, Italy, many professionals sated that the child welfare/protective services systems “feed” the juvenile justice systems. Children that grow up in violent homes tend to perpetrate violence as they grow older. They come to believe it is their survival and the “norm. ” Consequently, they “float” in and out of the two systems depending on circumstances. A woman’s best preventative defense is to recover from her mis-education and indoctrination that presents women as sex objects to sell everything from cars to toothpaste. Women put more clothes on for protection to mask the female shape which prevents men from imprinting. When a man sees a woman in a state of undress (and this does not mean she is naked but dressed too scantly) men make assumptions the woman is loose or less worthy of respect. Nuns, Muslim women that cover, and modestly dressed women are treated differently, with more respect and are much less likely to be molested verbally or otherwise by men. Many men control their desires and curiosity when it comes to women but this is not necessarily the rule. A woman displayed in public can incite lust and bad behavior in men the same way a gun brandished in public incites fear and uncertainty. It is not hard to see women that are wearing garments that are too tight, see through, too shear, too small or too short chafe at unwanted male attentions that range from hard stares, cat calls, whistles, to blocking her path and touching. Not to mention men that are seen with women dressed like this don’t exactly garner the respect of other men. Men in authority from bosses to policemen are men too and certainly capable of committing heinous crimes against women, so don’t be fooled. There are many beautiful types of apparel available for women to look smart while being covered. Men that see women covered are more likely to offer a modicum of respect and keep their distance if nothing else and those with bad intentions are more likely to choose another female victim less dressed. There is no death penalty for rape in most western countries and the burden of proof is on the woman so if nothing else, more clothes will make it at least more difficult for any attacker. How conservative a woman dresses can make her a much smaller target of opportunity. Recent events in the news point to some of the problems in goals and direction in the child protection systems (CPS). It has been reported that at least one CPS worker went to the house of the sex offender, Phillip Garrido, because a community member had reported seeing children in the home of a registered sex offender. While she was not discovered, it proved to be Jaycee Dugard who was allegedly kidnapped by Garrido when she was 11 years old and held captive in his back yard for 18 years.