child victimisation and legislation
INTRODUCTION:
Childhood should be a happy time for children. This should be a time when they are allowed to be themselves, experiencing love and care from their family, community, and those around them. Frequently, children are now facing abuse and neglect from parents, facing assault from their siblings and intimidation from other children. Children suffer more victimisation than other age group members, when considering forms of victimisation as a whole.
Victimisation- someone singled out for unfair treatment or punishment (Finkelhor, 1995). This means that someone is picked on to be hurt, either emotionally or physically, for someone else’s satisfaction. Children have become victims of victimisation because they have no way of expressing how they feel about what has happened to them. In some communities, especially in cultures communities in South Africa, whereby a girl may be raped by a close family member and when she discloses what has happened to her to her family, she will be punished for ‘lying’ about the close family friend, or she can even be chased from home is she falls pregnant as a result of the rape.
Violence has always occurred between women and children but is only being brought to public attention recently. This may be because of the fact that everyone is free and there are certain laws that have been put in place that allow children to have a voice when they are being violated. This legislation allows for fair trials against the perpetrator and proper sentencing for the crime they committed.
FORMS OF VICTIMISATION
There are various ways a child can be victimised (Lewitt & Baker, 1996). This includes:
Sexual misconduct- this is when non-consensual sexual activity is committed by mental, or force, or fear, or physical weakness, including the use of alcohol and drugs. It can vary in brutality, involving a range of behaviours, including rape, statutory rape, sexual touching, sexual exploitation, and sexual harassment. Conduct is suggestive
Childhood should be a happy time for children. This should be a time when they are allowed to be themselves, experiencing love and care from their family, community, and those around them. Frequently, children are now facing abuse and neglect from parents, facing assault from their siblings and intimidation from other children. Children suffer more victimisation than other age group members, when considering forms of victimisation as a whole.
Victimisation- someone singled out for unfair treatment or punishment (Finkelhor, 1995). This means that someone is picked on to be hurt, either emotionally or physically, for someone else’s satisfaction. Children have become victims of victimisation because they have no way of expressing how they feel about what has happened to them. In some communities, especially in cultures communities in South Africa, whereby a girl may be raped by a close family member and when she discloses what has happened to her to her family, she will be punished for ‘lying’ about the close family friend, or she can even be chased from home is she falls pregnant as a result of the rape.
Violence has always occurred between women and children but is only being brought to public attention recently. This may be because of the fact that everyone is free and there are certain laws that have been put in place that allow children to have a voice when they are being violated. This legislation allows for fair trials against the perpetrator and proper sentencing for the crime they committed.
FORMS OF VICTIMISATION
There are various ways a child can be victimised (Lewitt & Baker, 1996). This includes:
Sexual misconduct- this is when non-consensual sexual activity is committed by mental, or force, or fear, or physical weakness, including the use of alcohol and drugs. It can vary in brutality, involving a range of behaviours, including rape, statutory rape, sexual touching, sexual exploitation, and sexual harassment. Conduct is suggestive