Youth Support Project Proposal

Child abuse hurts the heart of many to think that physically or sexually attacking a child is acceptable. Verbal abuse has not been widely mentioned because it seems most use force over the child. Abused children pattern their parent’s behavior because if they are not aware that it is wrong they view it as normal and that it is just a part in life. Abuse traumatizes a child and it will take counseling to move on from an unfortunate childhood memory. Child abuse plays a role in kids becoming future delinquents and possibly criminal offending as an adult.

Dembo et. al. had the youths processed at a Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC) studying a sample of 277 youths in Tampa, Florida. It's been documented that youths entering the juvenile system that have been abused are more likely to engage in delinquent activities and drug use. Abused males and females react differently to abuse, girls are more emotional and boys are more physical. Juvenile assessment centers serve as intake before arrest for investigation between youth’s family problems and their troubled behavior. The Youth Support Project (YSP) is a family intervention to preserve families over the

point is if psychopathy has a relationship to child abuse. The proposed characteristics are lack of empathy or remorse, violation of social norms, pathological lying, and manipulation. It is challenging studying psychopathy because it is has been studied in prisons. As cited in the article Brown and Forth (1997) “if psychopaths are best classified as criminal versatiles rather than sexual offense specialists, it seems logical that they should be no more likely to reoffend sexually as they are to rob a bank or forge a check” (p. 55). Psychopathy is strongly associated with recidivism and treatment issues. It is compared against incest offenders, opposite and same sex extrafamilial offenders. There’s validity issues because the research is based on chart review without cooperation or consent