Blog #6 Child Victimization

1. I consider child abuse to be a deliberate and vicious attack towards an innocent child. Most of the time child abuse occurs when a parent feels they are disciplining them, when really their methods are completely inappropriate and extreme. I personally believe that there is a difference between a spanking and child abuse. However, there are circumstances where parents go to the extreme and spank their child to the point of injury, bruises, or trauma. When I think of a spanking (also from my own personal experience as a child), I think of a little hit on the wrist or hand. Although I agree in the sense that children should never have to be physically hurt when being disciplined, I think a small spank on the behind or hand would not be detrimental to a child's upbringing or mental health. I think punishment should become a public concern when it begins to create an uncomfortable environment or when the punishment is obviously harming the child. I think everyone has witnessed a child being disciplined in a grocery store, but almost always everyone turns a blind eye. With those situations, you usually witness the parent scolding, threatening a timeout, or maybe even a spank. What I think would be unacceptable is if a parent is going beyond the norm and is publicly humiliating the child, repeatedly hitting them, or yelling degrading  and inappropriate phrases.

2. In the state of New Jersey, possession of child pornography is a 4th degree crime with imprisonment of up to 18 months and a fee of about $10,000. However, being convicted of distributing child pornography can bump you up into a 2nd degree crime and be sentenced to 5-10 years in prison with a fine up to $250,000. Also, those who are convicted are mandated to register as sex offenders. There is still dispute until this very day to create a harsher punishment for those who also possess child pornography, and not only for those who distribute it.
    New Jersey has recently passed laws only pertaining to minors that will basically give off as a warning if they are caught for sexting. Minors with evidence of sexting on their cell phones will be required to attend a State sponsored program that was created to educate them on the precautions they need to take to avoid any possible risks when texting sexually explicit images. Sexting in the state of New Jersey is considered to be when an individual is sending sexually explicit images or phrases to another individual. I think that sexting should be punishable especially when it comes to minors. There have been so many cases of suicide or bullying because of information that was thought to be private had become public. It only causes humiliation and trauma for the minor who had sent it and certainly does not help in their self esteem or confidence. I really don't think there's such thing as an "offender" or "victim" when it comes to sexting. If two people are willingly showing sexually explicit images of each other, there is no force being exerted in any of their actions. However, if there is a case where someone makes the information public, then it can be appropriate to identify who is the offender or victim in the situation.

3. Authorities had arrested 25 men (one being a juvenile) for the distribution of child pornography. The videos that were being sold and sent via email or file transfers showed the men filming themselves doing explicit acts or raping the children. The article did not make me feel any different from the other child vicitimization acts I had to look up only because I was as equally disgusted. Two of the men arrested had been babysitters for some of the children.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Child-Porn-Arrest-Ring-New-Jersey-193546861.html


4.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-biggest-sexting-fails-of-all-time
This link includes the "Biggest Sexting Fails of All Time". This article pretty much shows how sexting has really become an accepted aspect of society and can easiliy be portrayed as a funny activity. It also shows how easy it is to send such personal information to someone on accident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7187SoBl6d0
This link is a parody created by "Smosh" that dramatizes the risks that can happen when participating in sexting with another individual. It shows how "personal information" you think you're sending can virtually be sent to anyone in the world.