CRIME AND SOCIETY – CHILD ABUSE

UNIT 6 CRIME AND SOCIETY – CHILD ABUSE


The topic “Child Abuse” is an extremely sensitive and delicate issue. As a police officer,
concerned with legal and social circumstances, you should know about the realities of this
sad topic, both in your own country and elsewhere. Although, many of the texts and
activities seem to focus on language, the serious nature of the subject underlies everything.
Please keep this in mind and remember the human misery and suffering which is involved.
Discussion points
What is the status of children in Romania?
How serious is the issue of “street children”?
How do you view the issue of “institutionalised children”?
Is it a European issue or a national issue?
Read the text and comment on the issues raised.
Refugee children in Britain
According to Amnesty International, around 100,000 children who have escaped from
war, torture and intolerance are living in Europe, separated from their parents. For
example, around three thousand arrived in Britain in 2000. Responsibility for the care of
refugee children living alone lies with social services departments. The children are
covered by the Children Act (as are UK-born children) in which according to Section 20,
the local authority has a “duty to safeguard and promote the safety of the child”. The
child is “fostered” or accommodated in a children’s home and checks are kept on the
child even after the 18
th
birthday. But for separated refugee children, Section 20 of the
Act is not applied (although it could be and is applied by some local authorities). Instead,
Section 17 covers the status of separated children and only obliges the authority to house
the children in bed-and-breakfast hotels, with little support from social services.
It is very difficult for these children to provide any evidence of age, risk of persecution or
personal danger and the Home Office still considers it necessary to “eliminate the
incentives which attract unaccompanied children”. The Home Office policy is to prevent

them from settling in UK but suggests that “where there is no prospect of safe return,
exceptional leave to stay may be granted to unaccompanied children for 4 years or until
their 18
th
birthday.” The Home Office seeks to “enforce the removal of unaccompanied
asylum-seeking children who have been refused asylum and who have no other basis to
stay in the UK when they reach 18”.
As Amnesty International comments: “It becomes clear why these children are almost
never granted refugee status – at 18 anyone can be deported, under 18 there are
impossible protective measures which have to be met before a child can be returned.”

1. What are the main concerns of the British government?
2. Are these children any less entitled to protection because they are “refugees”?
3. Should Britain be seeking European assistance in trying to solve these problems or is
it an exclusively British one?




LANGUAGE INFORMATION BOX

COLLOCATIONS

A collocation is a co-occurrence of two or sometimes three words.
Collocations are very common in both general and specialist domains of
language. Sometimes collocations become like idioms or even cliches, as in
“public conveniences” (old-fashioned euphemism for “toilets”!), “bed and
breakfast” (a form of accommodation for guests offered in Britain), or “high and
dry” (a fairly common way of expressing the idea of being “stranded” or
“isolated”). In police and justice domains for example, “ ethnic” collocates

frequently with “minorities”. The sad collocation “ethnic cleansing” is of fairly
recent origin. The word “foster” collocates with “child”, “home”, “parents” and
has its own British point of reference to mean “ children being temporarily cared
for by adults other than their parents but not adopted by them”.
Another form of collocation may occur where there is a relationship between two
words joined by “and” or “or” - “law and order”; “abuse or neglect”, “drink or
drugs”.
The collocation may be very genre-specific. “foster home”, for example, will
occur mainly in discussions on social welfare ( a collocation!),
institutionalised children (another collocation!) or “Children in Need”
(another collocation) although it might come into the discussion on, for example,
values in modern society, social psychology and behaviour, parent:child
relationships etc.

Activity 1
Decide on appropriate collocations

tragic | driving
sadistic | event
careless | conduct
vicious | cruelty
negligent | stress
wilful | disability
habitual | treatment
acute | drunkenness
severe | attack
serious | injuries
| assault
| circumstances
| need

| behaviour
THERE MAY BE SEVERAL POSSIBLE COLLOCATIONS WITH SOME ITEMS




Activity 2
Read the text and complete the exercises.

Father who left baby faces jail
by Jeanette Oldham

It was hot and the baby had been
fractious but, finally, he had dropped off
for his afternoon nap. Steven
MacDonald, glad of the peace and quiet,
wanted to go for a walk along the East
Anglian beach so he could feel the
family really was on holiday at last.
Elder son, Jamie, seven, was impatient
to get going, but what to do with baby
Robert?
He looked so peaceful in his cot in the
car. After all, he was fast asleep and five
minutes would not do any harm, despite
the rising temperatures.
That five minutes, however, became
hours and still the mercury rose.
Now 30-year-old MacDonald is facing
jail.

It had started as a holiday to help a
family to forget its mounting troubles,
but ended in a magistrate’s court with
the Paisley father accused of child
cruelty. MacDonald told magistrates at
Great Yarmouth yesterday he had
intended to be away for only a few
minutes, but the time grew into hours.
With the car window left just a couple of
inches open, Robert soon woke and
began crying.
The alarm was raised more than an hour
later by Louise Watkinson, an off-duty
special constable, who was parked in the
clifftop car park in Marine Parade,
Gorleston, near Great Yarmouth, and
heard the baby’s cries.
Ray Osborne, prosecuting, told
magistrates: “She went and looked and it
appeared the baby was in distress, so she
called for police officers to attend.”
MacDonald, of Ferguslie Park Avenue
Paisly, pleaded guilty to an act of cruelty
to his son by allowing him to be wilfully
assaulted, ill-treated, neglected,
abandoned or exposed to danger.
Sentence was adjourned until August 17
for reports.

Exercise 1 Rephrasing
Rephrase the underlined sections using a word or phrase from the text

A. He is likely to be punished by imprisonment.
He _______________ jail
He _______________ a jail term.

B. A member of the public contacted the police because she thought there was danger.
She _____________________ the alarm.

C. The father
wrongly believed everything would be all right, leaving his son in the car.
He didn’t think this ______________________________



D. Except for this incident, there is no indication that the family neglected or abused the
child
There does not appear to be any evidence that the child __________________
_________________________________________________________________.

E. The counsel for the prosecution, Mr Ray Osborne, summed up his case by praising the
action of Ms.Watkinson.
Mr Ray Osborne, __________________, praised Ms.Watkinson’s action.

Exercise 2 Prepositional use
Put in the correct preposition
A. He was very impatient _______ start the meeting.
B. The child was left in the hot car ________________ the high temperature.
C. The father has been accused _______________ wilful cruelty.

D. He had intended to be absent ______________only a few minutes.
E. The time passed and minutes grew _____________ hours.
F. The off-duty special constable called ______________police officers to attend.
G. The sentence was adjourned ___________ social services’ reports.
H. No child should be exposed ____________ acts of parental cruelty.
I. He pleaded guilty _____________ an act of cruelty.

Exercise 3 More phrases and collocations
From the text, find expressions meaning …
A. to be in a deep sleep -
B. to fall asleep (suddenly) -
C. a short sleep (not at night) -
D. increasing problems -
E. in a very unhappy condition -
F. put/place someone in a dangerous situation -

Exercise 4 How important?

Decide if the word are CORE 1 / CORE 2 / or CORE 3 vocabulary items

1. peace and quiet 2. nap 3. drop off 4. get going
5. in distress 6. magistrate’s 7. court 8. prosecuting
9. accused of 10. plead guilty 11. adjourn 12. face
13. jail 14. sentence 15. mounting 16. a couple of …
17. mercury rising 18. (time) grows into (time) 19. wilfully
20. neglected 21. assaulted 22. ill-treated
23. fractious 24. raise the alarm 25. after all 26. cot

Exercise 5 Text comprehension
Decide if the sentences are TRUE, FALSE or NOT ENOUGH INFORMATION
A. The mother was also responsible
B. The father and the other boy were away for several hours.
C. The alarm was raised by a special police officer.
D. The father expressed his regret in court.
E. The father was unemployed.
F. The punishment for this crime is a fine not less than 1000 pounds.
G. He said that he had not intended to abandon the child for a long time.
H. The judge was very severe in administering the punishment.
I. The temperature was over 30 degrees that day.

Exercise 6 Text analysis
A. Find examples of how the text is “journalistic” in structure or composition.
B. Does the reporter tell the case only on the basis of the facts?
C. Find examples of information which is “unspecified” or “vague”
D. How does she describe the “hot day”?
E. How does she describe the difficulties the family was facing?
F. When she writes “ … by allowing him to be willfully assaulted, ill-treated, neglected,
abandoned or exposed to danger” is she creating these terms herself?

In Text 1 is the language “general English” or “specific English”?
What examples of specialist terminology can you find?

Activity 3 Please read the text about a recent extremely shocking case in Britain.

Father and “evil” stepmother guilty of killing Lauren, 6

The “evil and sadistic” stepmother of
six-year-old Lauren Wright was

convicted of her killing yesterday, as
was the father who “turned a blind eye”
to the abuse against her.
A jury at Norwich Crown Court found
Tracey Wright, 31, and Craig Wright,
38, guilty of manslaughter and cruelty
after a four-week trial. The pair will be
sentenced at a later date.
Lauren’s emaciated body was covered in
60 bruises and she weighed just over two
stones (about 14 kilograms) when she
died on May 6 last year. The girl, whose
digestive system collapsed after a severe
blow to the stomach, died in agony, with
“terrible and disgusting” injuries
reminiscent of a car crash victim, the
court had been told.
Acting Chief Superintendent Martin
Wright, who led the police investigation,
said: “ There will be a significant
amount of satisfaction in many quarters
that she has been convicted. Her
behaviour can only be described as evil
and sadistic and our thoughts, of course,
will be with Lauren today.”
The Department of Health ruled out a
public enquiry after the Norfolk social
services chief, David Rogers, said he
was writing to Lord Laming, the
chairman of the hearings into the death

of Victoria Climbie, another child abuse
victim, to ask him to consider the case.