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Bahamian Psychiatrist Said The Rise In Child Abuse Over The Years Might Have A Lot To Do With The Rising Levels Of Crime In The Bahamas
Related to country: Bahamas

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Child abuse linked to violent crime, says Dr. Allen:
By KRYSTEL ROLLE, Guardian Staff Reporter -
Nassau, Bahamas:


A local psychiatrist said the rise in child abuse over the years might have a lot to do with the rising levels of crime in the nation, as abused or neglected children have an 80-percent chance of committing violent crimes or murder in their teenage and adult lives.

Dr. David Allen, using information from a number of studies from the State University of New York, said abused children committed twice as many violent crimes compared to youth who were not abused. Allen, who is currently conducting local research on crime, indicated that the same trends are currently being seen in The Bahamas.

His comments came during the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce Crime Prevention Seminar and Security Trade Show held earlier this week.

"Psychiatrist Dorothy Lewis and colleagues found that in a study of 14 people on death row for violent crime and murder, 13 had suffered severe child physical or sexual abuse," Allen said.

Additionally he noted that when a woman is physically abused, there is a 70 percent chance of her child being abused.

While it may come as a surprise to some, Allen said the therapy that could help prevent abused children from committing violent crime could be found in the church.

"Surprising, but validated by all the studies, the negative effects of child abuse can be prevented by regular weekly visits, of at least two hours for a prolonged period of two years or more. This can easily be orchestrated by a coordinated program between the church and our social welfare agencies," he suggested.

Yesterday, he encouraged churches to adopt the community areas around them. If they do so, according to him, social change will come in three years.

"If every church can adopt an area, we can wipe out child abuse. If it is allowed to continue, the high incidence of murder is going to continue," Dr. Allen warned during a telephone interview yesterday. "If we could wipe out the physical and sexual abuse of children, we could wipe out a lot of the crime."

While he could not give actual statistics on sexual and physical abuse on Bahamian children, he estimated that the numbers are "extremely high".

The prominent psychiatrist said The Bahamas is in desperate need for a comprehensive adolescent program and a national parenting program, which he believes, would also help to reduce the incidence of crime.

He explained that many teenagers are lacking an identity and in their search for acceptance or adequacy, they turn to drugs, gangs or violence.

According him, there are two major deviant disorders in children, which if not picked up at an early age, could cause the school environment to become more violent.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder which leads children to rebel without being violent, and Conduct Disorder which leads children to rebel and become violent.

"With good monitoring, conduct disorder could be diagnosed in kids as early as nine or ten years," he said, adding that up to 20 percent of them could potentially become killers.

Problem children ought to be screened and placed in "special" schools like the YEAST program for troubled youth in Andros, or an adolescent center with clinical assessment, crisis operations, individual and group counseling, drug education, anger management and conflict resolution, he remarked.

"Crime is a societal problem which occurs in chronic cyclical wave patterns and is a chronic relapsing phenomenon. Therefore, to fight crime effectively, along with an effective police force we need a parallel body involving the government, church, business, special interest groups, etc.," Allen said.

11/22/07

November 22, 2007 | 9:59 AM Comments  0 comments

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