Child abuse is considered by many to be the most detestable act a person can commit. Yet every ten seconds, a child is abused, raped, or killed in the U.S.  Abuse is found across all social stages, and in all religions, levels of education, cultures, and ethnicities.

   5.9 million children were estimated to have been involved in the 3.3 million reports of child abuse that were made in 2010, but for every case of a child being abused that is reported, two cases go unreported. Therefore, the 5.9 million victims is a vast underestimation. Sixty-one thousand referrals of child abuse are made to the Child Protective Services each week, around six per minute. Shockingly small portions of these cases are investigated, and many are dismissed for lack of evidence. Very few of the cases where a child was proved to have been harmed were actually investigated. There are 1.5 million runaways, and 85% of them are fleeing some form of abuse. The most common source of reports is educational personnel. Eighty percent of maltreatment victims were abused by their parents, and only 10% of victims did not know their abuser closely. Abuse does not only occur to one group. The highest victimization rate for 2010 was African-American children, followed by multi-racial children, American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander children, Hispanic children, Caucasian children, and Asian children. The gender of maltreatment victims is about even (about 48% male, 52% female).

   Untreated child abuse increases the likelihood of arrest for a violent crime by 38%, and 84% of all prison inmates had been abused as a child. Children who experience child abuse & neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit violent crime. As many as two to three thirds of people in treatment for drug abuse report to have been maltreated or neglected as a child, and the same amount of cases involved substance use to some degree.  Victims are 25% less likely to practice safe sex, putting them at a greater risk for STD’s. About a third of all victims of abuse will later abuse their children, continuing the cycle. Eighty percent of former victims who are now adults meet criteria for at least one, and occasionally more than one psychological disorder. As well as affecting the child victim in the present, abuse has long-term consequences such as chronic illness due to their wounds not being medically treated, mental illness due to psychological or emotional maltreatment, and fatalities.

   One thousand eight hundred fifty children die a year from some form of child abuse, more than seven children a day. Today, six children will commit suicide due to child abuse. Suicide is the third leading cause of death, and 80% of the children that die each day are under the age of four. Around 60% of child deaths caused by child abuse are not recorded as such on death certificates.

   In America, sexual abuse occurs constantly, with a rape occurring every two minutes, in fact: there were 26 registered sex offenders living in Cortez in 2011. Sexual abuse takes up 10% of all types of abuse. Pedophilia is a disorder in which a person feels sexual attraction towards young children. One in every three girls and one in every six boys will be sexually molested before the age 17. The average sex offender will molest an average of 120 victims, most of whom do not report it. Most molesters, about 90% of them, abuse children they know. About 82% of children who had been abused often will grow up to be pedophiles themselves. Many  child rape victims under 12 were abused by a family member or family acquaintance. Oftentimes, a sexually abused child is abused in other ways.

   Physical abuse is what comes to most people’s minds when they hear “child abuse.” This act results in physical injury to a child, and areas that have bruises that could be a cause for concern are the cheeks, ears, mouth, buttocks, thighs, stomach, and back. Bruises in those areas usually do not occur during normal play. Acts that are considered physical abuse are punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning, breaking of bones, hair pulling, and shaking an infant. Neglect makes up for 78% of all cases of child abuse, and is greatly underreported and often unnoticed by others who care for the child. Physical neglect is the most common type of neglect, and includes abandonment, inadequate nutrition, medical neglect, being left unattended in a car, and clothing and hygiene.

   Child abuse is a vastly underreported act that is considered quite detestable by many. It crosses all boundaries. It does not discriminate based on gender, social standing, ethnicity, or religion. Children are being abused even as this sentence is being written, and they have no voice to speak against it. The abuse must be stopped before more children have their lives ruined and their futures torn away.