Most would say a healthier society is in order and that might be true, but, there is nothing unhealthy about the parents of these children. Even if they had problems in their lives, that doesn't mean their children's safety should be one of them.
The USA keeps opting for negligence of our children to satisfy Wall Street. Children are important to them so long as they are money makers OR if there are laws to follow to protect them exploitation.
The movement to put children in a better place started in 1981 with Adam Walsh. Nearly thirty-two years later we still don't have a comprehensive set of laws that protect them.
Child protection laws are not State's Rights. They belong in the federal system. The federal government has to set the standards the states and local governments have to live up to.
The graph above can be viewed in context from this January 13. 2013 article by Juan, click here.
The article states nearly three times more children and teens have been killed in the USA than soldiers in Vietnam since 1979. It states more than seventeen times more children and teens have been killed in the USA than military deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.
That is since 1979. Now "Slate Magazine" counts them from the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
What are we doing? When war is pushed to the forefront of the nation we protest and demand other measures and withdrawal, but, we let children drop like flies at home?
Most of the notoriety of child deaths occurs with Caucasian children. I am not sure all children are effected by the notoriety, though.
Is there such a thing as compassion for Black children in the Inner City? Are there laws that focus on the violence in the cities of the USA and the child deaths that take place? As a nation, do we only focus on child safety in the suburbs?
I don't want to diminish the work that has been done up to now. It is all important work. Every Caucasian child lost is as important as their Black or Hispanic brothers and sisters, but, to some extent the country is dropping the ball.
Overall, 23% of sexual assault offenders were under the 18 (click here) and 77% were adults. - Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement,
7/00, NCJ 182990, U.S. Department of Justice
The American media is split in their coverage of children. One side focuses on political agendas of child rape, while the other focuses on gun violence, video games and protecting children in a way that might need funding.
I wish, as a nation, we would come together over children and make it count. Children don't care about Wall Street and it is proven unless the government legislates Wall Street doesn't care about children.
This country has a problem and it is a huge problem. Kids are at risk. They are Latchkey Kids in households where parents are not available while working multiple jobs. A child's education is chronically under fire for budget cuts while teachers purchase all the supplies they need to teach. Teachers are believed to be unqualified to teach if they belong to a union. It is just incredible the number of fiscal assaults our children sustain daily as well.
But, I would think child safety that matters in a real way for all children would be obvious.
Why is it children are set on the back burner for decades?
Oh, one other thing. Can we make sure they are feed three squares a day, too?
By Alexandria Fisher
Sunday, Mar 17, 2013 Updated 6:42 PM CDT
The family of slain teen Hadiya Pendleton (click here) has reportedly been invited to another White House function by First Lady Michelle Obama.
Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton and her 10-year-old son Nathaniel Pendleton were invited to the annual White House Easter Egg Roll held on April 1, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Pendleton family has been present at various political events such as the President’s State of the Union speech. The first lady also attended the funeral of the slain teen.
The death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was gunned down just weeks after performing at the President’s inauguration festivities, continues to be the pinnacle of Chicago violence.
Senator Dick Durbin named his most recent gun bill after Pendleton and is confident it will pass.
The Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2013, a section of which is named after Pendleton, would call for sentences of 15 to 25 years for straw purchases. It also would create the first federal statute that specifically criminalizes firearm trafficking....
