Cycle of Violence & Maltreatment: Trauma & Abuse Impacting Adults - Essay Sample

Introduction

A cycle of violence: repeated and dangerous acts of violence as a cyclical pattern, associated with high emotions and doctrines of retribution or revenge.

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Maltreatment: cruel or violent treatment of a person or animal; mistreatment.

Abuse: use or treat in such a way as to cause damage or harm.

Perpetrate: carry out or commit (a harmful, illegal, or immoral action)

Childhood trauma affects the violence a person processes, when they are older than a person with very harsh childhood, would be notably violent and possibly a criminal because their brain was still developing when they were exposed to such painful circumstances. Most of the serial killers in their adulthood have been found to have undergone childhood trauma, which has led to their unlawful action, Nicole Davies, a renowned doctor explains. This trauma could include emotional torture, neglect, parental financial strain, experiences of rape as a result of lust and financial gain typologies, as described in the Dhruvika Lakkha analysis. These acts of abuse tend to involve a lot of torture which children are not strong enough to deal with; hence, they resort to solitude and loneliness. Interaction with their mates, especially in school, may make them uncomfortable because of a lack of social skills. These peers may end up being the victims of their crimes such as murder. Parents should set a positive example to their children because young kids tend to follow their role models (parents/guardians) footsteps.

As stated in the Dhruvika Lakkha analysis, abuse has been shown to increase the risk of later forms of antisocial, including violence perpetration in adulthood. The cycle of violence is exhibited when victims of childhood maltreatment perpetrate violence towards their mates and even partners at a later age. Childhood trauma such as abuses familiarizes the child's mind in a negative direction, and they are later in life more likely to do the same by perpetrating sexual and physical intimate partner violence. The articles inform us that abused children in life show no empathy at all because they lack the knowledge on how to respond to their emotions. They, therefore, become more brutal and aggressive when also abusing their peers sexually and physically.

According to the Dhruvika Lakkha article, there are three phases in the cycle of violence:(1) Tension-Building Phase, (2) Acute or Crisis Phase, and (3) Calm or Honeymoon Phase. Lack of mediation would lead to an increase in the frequency and severity of the abuse perpetrated by individuals with substantiated childhood violence. Childhood abuse tends to increase over time, mostly because of a contribution made by the individual, relational, community, and societal factors to the risk of child maltreatment and abuse (Dr Nicole Davies). Her study implies that children are innocent beings who are not responsible for the harm inflicted upon them, but specific attributes have been found to increase the chances of being mistreated.

Joel Norris, in his books, states that abuse is mostly regarded as actions, but there are also inactions that contribute to child abuse, such as neglect. Crime theories would suggest that family disorganization and poor parenting skills and approaches result in weaker social bonds in children and consequently, low self-control. Neglect can be slightly unnoticeable since it expresses very subtle ways; hence, some parents tend to overlook or not notice at all. Neglect is experienced by kids in their early childhood ages in many forms, one being severe discipline by the parents. Most parents and guardians suppose that discipline has to be made to look like a punishment, while this is not the case. Some parents start withholding affection and love from their children as a means of discipline, not realizing this only pushes the child further away rather than teach them the right ways. If this detachment and inattention continue for a long time, it develops into utter neglect and the kid experiences emotional and also physical neglect. This book is also scholar based, and in conclusion, this book gives you the psychological facts of how we process into criminals.

Many neglected children do not get the chance to learn about healthy relationships, and building trust, therefore, have many issues in their interactions with other people. They develop negative attitudes towards them and believe that they should live in solitude; thus, this impairs relationships later in life, such as courtship and marriage. Even when they get the chance to have a home, individuals who underwent childhood trauma tend to abuse their partners sexually and intimately. The individuals tend to look for a way to express their emotional suffering, and this is through anger and violence. The ideology of a serial killer is threatening to society, and the fact that childhood factors influence this behaviour is eye-opening.

The decay of these offenders' personalities begins at infancy for many and continues throughout childhood and into adulthood. The serial killer tends to be neglected during the primary stages of infancy, wherein which the development of the human personality begins. As these offenders enter childhood, they are still at a disadvantage socially, often as a result of abuse and parental issues. Serial killers often lack self-control, as well as other critical characteristics of a law-abiding citizenry. According to Doctor Nicole Davies, 50% of serial killers have a connection based on their childhood experiences to the crimes they commit. Joel Norris, an American author and his team also found out from his study that serial killers sexually assault their victims before murdering them which may be because, in their infant stages, they experienced the same and as a consequence suppress their emotional response due to lack of knowledge on how to respond to them. Sympathy is not a word in the serial killers' dictionary. An example of Ted Bundy, a serial killer is given by J Oliver Conroy, in one of his newspaper articles, Ted had been significantly traumatized by the mother and sister, thereby leading him into crimes.

According to Rebellon and Van Gundy, there are only very few cases of child maltreatment that are often reported; therefore, the statistics available is not reliable. The article points out that households in which children are maltreated may have other characteristics that are associated with adverse child outcomes and higher propensities to engage in crime. In their assembled data, for instance, children who were maltreated have mothers who are less educated and more likely to be on welfare. The article ascertains a cross-sectional relationship between past experiences of maltreatment and other past adverse events, and current risky behaviours/ outcomes. For example, (1998) and (2003a) show that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are correlated with future risk for depressed youths, suicide attempts, multiple sexual partners, sexually transmitted diseases, smoking, and alcoholism. (2003provides additional proof about the relationship between ACEs and future use of illicit drugs, while Hillis et al. (2004) report on the relationship between ACEs and teen pregnancies.

One of the best-known studies of the long-term consequences of maltreatment is by Widom (1989b) who equalled a sample of 908 children with substantiated cases of abuse to controls who were selected to be similar in terms of age, sex, race, and socioeconomic status. This study is significant in that it distinguished between physical abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse, and also involved long-term follow-up of the subjects. She finds substantial effects of both abuse and neglect on arrest both as a juvenile and as an adult: Being abused or neglected as a child increases an individual's risk for a seizure as a juvenile by 53 %, increases the probability of arrest as an adult by 38% than likelihood of an arrest for a violent crime by 38%.

The article implies that studies examining gender variations have produced mixed results. For example, Rivera and Widom (1990) found that maltreated males were at higher risk of perpetrating a violent offence than a matched control group, while this was not correct among females. Nevertheless, Maxfield and Widom (1996) found that abused females were at a higher risk of arrest for violence than control females, whereas the relationship was barely significant for abused males. The measurement error of this type could also bias sibling or twin fixed effects models. The study also involves an assessment of maltreatment of twins, supposing that one twin is more likely to report bad things in general. Then this twin will be more likely to report both abuse and crime, leading to spurious results.

Works Cited

Dr Nicole Davies (2018). Abused Child to Serial Killer: Investigating Nature vs Nurture in Methods of Murder,https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/home/topics/violence-and-aggression/from-abused-child-to-serial-killer-investigating-nature-vs-nurture-in-methods-of-murder/

Norris, Joel. (1990). Serial Killers, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c431/c926ce8e6667f5f5d0bd62cffd366b3d2b3b.pdf

J Oliver Conroy, (2018.Aug.10). What makes a serial killer?https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/10/what-makes-a-serial-killer?