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Abused Adults
Child abuse is a most important social problem. A number of prisoners on death row have records of some kind of severe abuses. The neglect and abuse of children often develops through several generations. Intervention and therapy is vital for abused victims and without it, they grow into troubled adults who experience different symptoms ranging from low self-esteem, depression, extreme passivity or violence. Without therapy, an abused child could turn into an adult abuser. Sexually abused victims are at greater risks also for depression and suicide. Stress increases the chances of the abuse more likely to happen; whether it is from poverty, joblessness, marital problems, substance abuse or poor education. "It is clear that adults who were abused as children are most likely to become abusive parents themselves. There is also some evidence that being abused as a child increases the victim's likelihood of subsequently committing a violent crime."
Freud's diagrams from 'The Ego and the Id' (1923)
Sexually Abused child.
Among more than 1,400 adult females, childhood sex...(Christoffel & Gallagher 2006)
There are number of reasons for the connection between childhood abuse and adulthood criminal behavior. It is understandable that people who were abused in childhood are at increased risk of arrest as adults. There are also many people who were abused as children but did not become adult criminals. Long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse may be apparent across a number of domains of psychological suffering, but it does not inevitably result in criminal activities. Criminal behaviors characterize only one type of possible result linked with childhood sexual abuse. Many writers on the subject have explained problems of depression, nervousness and low self-esteem among people who were sexually abused when they were children.
A number of writers have come up with a variety of explanations of why adults who were abused during their children commit crimes. They believe the causes of crime...