Dear Future President,

      I need your help. According to Childhelp, children are being abused every 10 seconds in America, and I believe this needs to be stopped. There are many children in this world that could grow up to be amazing people, but abuse as a child ruins their future. With child abuse there are many long-term effects that makes it hard for victims to have potential in life. Child Abuse also affects our community. According to the US Department of Justice, 68% of male felons reported that they were abused at the age 12 or younger. What this evidence suggests is that there may not be near as many criminals in the US if there was not as much child abuse. If we stopped child abuse it could give many people a successful life while making our country a better place.

     When child abuse takes place in someone's life, it is hard to cope with. Childhelp reported that in a study 80% of 21 year olds that were abused as a child tested positive for at least one psychological disorder. After being abused, some people are never able to think correctly or be a normal person again. Psychological disorders can make it hard to live an everyday life and limits your abilities in life. Child abuse can also lead to drug abuse. Childhelp reports that ⅔ of the people in treatment for drug abuse were abused as a child. So, child abuse doesn't just disappear when someone grows up... it could last forever or many years after the fact. Therefore, child abuse not only ruins someone's life as a kid, but can affect them when they are grown up.

     In America, many children are dying from abuse each day. Childhelp states that in 2014 1,580 children died of abuse. Child abuse is very fatal and can end a child's life in an instant. Some people may say that child abuse is for teaching kids how to behave. They believe it is punishment for what kids do wrong and they do it so the kids learn from it. That is not an excuse for child abuse. Children should not be hurt or killed to be taught a lesson. Ebsco argues that child abuse leads to low self esteem, bad behavior in the future, and more likely to cause children to be depressed as an adult. Younger kids are more vulnerable for child abuse because they cannot protect themselves. Childhelp confirmed that more than 70% of children that die from abuse were two years old or younger. Children who are abused may experience head trauma, neck trauma, intoxication, drowning, hyperthermia, and murder. It is not fair for these children to experience this in their life and suffer because of bad parenting. Young children do not know how to protect themselves or go tell someone when they are in danger. Child abuse needs to be stopped! We need to do it for all the kids that died and could not even help themselves.

     Furthermore, abuse to children can cause people to grow up to be a bad person that puts others in danger. As identified by the National Institute of Justice, 100% of serial killers were abused as children. Adding on to that, a serial killer is defined as someone who kills three or more people. So for every abused child that grew up to be a serial killer three or more lives were taken. Think about that. Not only are 100% of serial killers reported to been abused as a child, but the National Institute of Justice also states that 68% of male felons were abused before the age of 12. Many lives could be saved if we stopped child abuse. It would keep people's lives in order and help this country be made up of better people. We can not sit back and know that children are being abused right now and it is not only ruining their lives but could ruin someone else's one day.

     It has been shown that kids are dying everyday from abuse. Many children’s lives are affected forever, and our community has more criminals due to the impact of child abuse. This should not be happening in our world, and we all know it. Vulnerable children should not be dying, people in our community should not be in danger from child abuse victims, and no one deserves to live a childhood of abuse. Just imagine what it would be like to come home and know you will get yelled at, hit, punched, and abused by your own parent. You would not want to live a life like that, and no one else would either. Please put a stop to child abuse.

Sincerely,                                                                                                                                                            Anna 

Citations:

Strokley, Anne. "The Negative Impact of Corporal Punishment." Ebesco. Points of View Ebesco, 1 Mar. 2016. Web. 23 Sept. 2016. <http://web.a.ebscohost.com/pov/detail/detail?sid=0c17f69a-3487-43d5-bd97a11febd8d75b%40sessionmgr4007&vid=0&hid=4104&bdata=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU%3d#db=pwh&AN=12437657&anchor=AN0012437657-3>.

Mitchell, Heather, and Michael Aamodt G. "The Incidence of Child Abuse in Serial Killers." Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. Radford Univeristy, 2005. Web. 21 Sept. 2016. <http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.568.1609&rep=rep1&type=pdf>.

"Child Abuse Statistics." Child Abuse Statistics and Facts. Child Help, n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2016. <https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse-statistics/#physical>.

"Out of the Shadows." Out of the Shadows. Ed. New England Center for Investigation. Little Digital Company, 2014. Web. 23 Sept. 2016. <http://untold-stories.necir.org/>.

Child Laying on Floor with Teddy Bear. Digital image. Fact File. N.p., 2015. Web. 29 Sept. 2016. <http://factfile.org/10-facts-about-child-neglect>.