Costs of Child Abuse Crippling Our Society

Another of the things brought out recently is that abuse is expensive.

Back in August second of 1998, there was an excellent article that I'd like to quote, "Emotional costs are harder to measure, although experts know that children who have been abused are more likely to commit crimes, abuse their own children, have psychological problems, abuse alcohol and drugs, and be unemployed…'I have adult clients who are still dealing with the abuse that occurred early in their lives,' said an associate professor of psychology at California State University, San Bernardino, and a licensed therapist. A licensed therapist in Colton said, '…If it goes untreated, it definitely impacts the rest of their lives. We see a lot of repercussions in our society…'"

Abuse isn't a problem that just goes away, and a lifetime of therapy costs plenty.

On 12-22-02 there were several articles in my local newspaper that related to this subject. The second article was actually was a really good interview conducted by the newspaper's editorial board. The subject of the interview was the chief of police. In one part of the interview he said, "…The history of youth violence is that if you don't deal with it on the upswing, it becomes a much bigger problem…they tend to stay within the criminal justice system…for two or three decades…we're dealing with them for a long period of time..." If anyone would know, it would be the chief of police.

On 11-15-2000 there was an article that had a quote from Attorney General Bill Lockyer. We learned, (It cost, back then) "'…$50,000.00 a year to lock up (a prisoner)…compared to a few hundred a year for early intervention programs…'" The county sheriff said, "'There would be "huge savings" if the county could reduce the inmate population…by just 5 percent…'"

Inmates in jails and prisons have rough childhoods in common. Knowledgeable and experienced, the sheriff knew they, too, had been abused as children.

When you do not have the abuse, you do not have the explosive need to vent that abuse. You can reduce personnel on your police force; you don't have as many prisons, mental hospitals, and all the rest of the infrastructure we need to deal with the current dysfunctional members of our society.

Each abused child is a battle, and we're losing too many. Instead of striding purposefully towards our destiny, the human race drags a broken and useless leg and must support a terrible wound. A direct quote from an article on 4-3-2001 said, "…child abuse and neglect drains the United States of an estimated $258 million each day, or $94 billion a year, said Prevent Child Abuse America…"