The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a case of child abuse against an 8-year-old girl. 62-year-old Salvador Fernandez of Fresno was arrested at his home late Christmas Eve on felony child abuse charges. Sheriff’s Deputies say they went to Community Regional Medical Center on Christmas Eve for reports of possible child abuse against an 8-year-old girl. The mother of the girl told deputies she had taken her daughter to the hospital after her daughter told her she had been assaulted by Fernandez.

A Jacksonville woman has been charged with assault inflicting serious bodily injury, and other charges, after authorities say she left her toddler in a tub of hot water. Felicia Shonnta Bell, 32, of Hargett Street, was charged by the Jacksonville Police Department with assault inflicting serious bodily injury, misdemeanor child abuse, and contributing to delinquency of a juvenile. Bell is accused of allowing her 3-year-old to be left unattended in a bathtub with running hot water, resulting in child sustaining 2nd-degree burns, according to warrants.

Henderson, NV – Police say 33-year-old Edward Colucci didn’t just try to break his girlfriend’s two young sons physically, he also tried to break them emotionally. Colucci was arrested late last month, charged with child abuse, assault and kidnapping, after paramedics and police officers found his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son unconscious in the couple’s apartment. The child was suffering from severe malnutrition – so severe his hair was falling out. Dispatchers say that when the boys’ mother called 911 on November 23, she could be heard telling Colucci, “you went too far.” And she wasn’t fucking kidding. According to police, over the course of a few months, Colucci allowed the boy to eat nothing but dry ramen noodles, garlic cloves and onions. He reportedly spit in the child’s water. When the child’s mother made eye contact with the boy, Colucci reportedly viewed it as showing “too much affection” and punished the kid by punching or kicking him. Police say Colucci bit the boy’s nose, sprayed glass cleaner in his eyes and forced him to eat his own vomit.

Many people have a limited understanding of the causes, prevention, and impacts of childhood sexual abuse, probably because it’s still a taboo subject in our culture; as are other sexual and abuse related topics.

Why do people sexually abuse children?

There are many different kinds of abusers, and it’s not clear why people molest children. What’s been found in recent research is an overwhelming majority of people guilty of child molesting, were molested themselves. We used to think this statistic was much smaller, but with more detailed research, we’ve discovered this statistic to be very high. Statistics involving men in New Jersey prisons convicted of sexual abuse, found that over 95% of the men, were in fact abused themselves. And we don’t know, but it could be that the 5% of non-abused men in that case don’t remember being abused as children; they may have amnesia or a traumatic dissociation.. Some abuse may be the attempt to relive one’s own abuse, with power roles reversed. Another reason may be these people have learned that abuse is a way of feeling in control. Fundamentally, in all cases of abuse, it certainly is about power and control.

Every 6 hours a child dies in the United States due to abuse or neglect–Child abuse is an American epidemic. In 2005, more than 3.5 million children were reported as victims of child abuse or neglect. The staggering truth is that before today is over, four children will DIE because their little bodies cannot bear any more abuse.

CINCINNATI — A father and son are both jailed in Hamilton County, each charged with killing children.Christopher Dangerfield, 48, is accused of killing his son, 3-year-old Tyrese Short.Short died Tuesday. Dangerfield’s attorney said the boy slipped in the bathtub and hit his head.Dangerfield was being held on $500,000 bond.An adult son of Dangerfield is also facing charges in connection with a child’s death.Loinell Dangerfield was charged in connection with the death of 3-month-old Zhi Binford in May. Binford was his girlfriend’s daughter.

Yes, Virginia, sexual assaults against children are extremely common in the United States. They run the gamut from indecent exposure, physical fondling of children, engaging in sex acts with minors, showing pornography to or using children in porn films, exposing minors to sex acts of adults (in real time or through media), and continue all the way to prostituting minors or enslaving them for sex trafficking. Just in the most extreme measures alone-selling children to be raped for profit (prostitution of minors), estimates of 200,000 to 300,000 children annually in the United States are introduced into this vile life.

A Pierce County child rapist shot and killed two women in Arlington, Texas Tuesday night, including a rookie police officer who was trying to protect an 11-year-old girl, police officials said Wednesday. Barnes Samuel Nettles – convicted of third-degree child rape in Pierce County in 1997 — then shot and killed himself, police said. The Associated Press reported that Nettles, 38, had moved from Washington to Texas in August.

APOPKA –A man accused of sexual battery on a child said a demon made him do it. The man was arrested Wednesday by Orange County Sheriff’s Office. He’s facing charges of sexual battery of a child under 12, tampering with a witness and sexual activity with a child. According to the police report, the man claimed a demon was doing it and that he didn’t want to go to jail.

BRIDGEPORT — A man being sought for allegedly sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in South Carolina was arrested Thursday morning. Pedro Garcia, 49, was arrested at an apartment on Wood Avenue by members of the U.S. Marshal Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force. Garcia has an outstanding warrant from Newberry County, South Carolina, charging him with first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and violation of probation. He has been sought by police there since last November.

Fortunately, the pace of legal reform regarding child-sex-abuse statutes of limitations did not abate in 2010. The logic of eliminating the statute of limitations (“SOL”) for this heinous crime and tort — and of creating an SOL “window” so that past victims can come forward and receive justice — remains irrefutable. Study after study has proven that victims typically need decades to get to the psychological place where they can come forward to tell their stories in court, and that therefore, short statutes of limitations mean there will be no justice at all. Short SOLs also mean that perpetrators and their enablers remain cloaked in secrecy, which is just what is needed to perpetuate cycles of abuse; as the years pass with perpetrators and enablers unidentified, more and more children fall prey.

OKLAHOMA CITY — A 10-month-old baby with serious injuries all over his body has been taken into state protective custody while police investigate possible child abuse. On December 26, 2010, the baby was transported from Moore Hospital to OU Medical Center after doctors discovered both the infant’s arms were broken. He also had bruising and bite marks on his arms and legs. Doctors said the bite marks were from an adult. Oklahoma City Police were called to the hospital to investigate.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Department of Children and Families (DCF) said the alcoholic drink Four Loko is to blame for a new wave of child abuse claims across Central Florida. In less than three months, the drink has been tied to more than a dozen cases.DCF spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner talked Wednesday evening about the recent surge in Osceola County.“What we saw an increase in, or a new trend in, was the introduction of the beverage – an alcoholic beverage called Four Loko. So at this point we’ve seen about a dozen cases mostly in Osceola County, ” Hoeppner said.

MONTGOMERY, AL — Montgomery police have charged a 23-year-old woman with capital murder in the death of her 4-year-old son. Brittany Ellis is being held at the Montgomery County Detention Facility. Capt. Ron Cook, a police spokesman, says an autopsy showed the cause of the death of Keante Taunton was restraint-related asphyxia. Police officers responded to Baptist Medical Center South on Oct. 20 in response to the child’s death.