extreme abuse, traumatic childhood effects, forced trafficking

describes crimes
Survivors of Extreme Abuse - The Awful Rowing Toward Social Emancipation
For survivors of extreme abuse, the disclosure of the crimes they experienced and the public identification of the perpetrators of those crimes can be monumentally daunting tasks. Among the impediments they may face in their pursuit of personal and social justice are their own psychological challenges, due to the complex, and sometimes debilitating effects of having experienced severe trauma, the dangers inherent in exposing criminals or criminal networks, and social denial of their plight on almost every level....
IMAGINE
Survivors have an invaluable gift to share with society: intimate knowledge of crimes perpetrated in their midst, and the criminals who committed them. Their knowledge and insight could theoretically lift the great rock of our cultural denial and officially sanctioned version of reality, and expose the dark and dangerous world of child, drug and arms traffickers, rapists, child pornographers, serial killers, cults, secret societies and government corruption. And that exposure would surely mark the beginning of the end of the widespread abuses that plague our society now. But that doesn't happen.
http://akaunk.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/survivors-of-extreme-abuse-the-awful-rowing-toward-social-emancipation/


Traumatic Childhood Might Take Years Off Adult Life - ScienceDaily (Oct. 7, 2009) - Many U.S. children face a terrible burden of stressors that can harm the development of their brains and nervous systems. These stressors can lead to health problems and diseases throughout their lives, ultimately causing some to die prematurely, according to the lead author of a new study. David W. Brown., D.Sc., an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and colleagues found that children who were exposed to six or more "adverse childhood experiences" or ACEs were at double the risk of premature death compared to children who had not suffered these experiences. On average, the children at highest risk eventually died at age 60, compared to low-risk children who lived to age 79. The study appears in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Conducted by Kaiser Permanente in San Diego and the CDC, the study looked at the long-term effects of these childhood experiences: undergoing verbal or physical abuse, having a battered mother and witnessing domestic violence, living in a household with substance abuse or mental illness, having an incarcerated household member or having parents who separated or divorced. Data came from 17,337 adults who visited Kaiser Permanente from 1995 to 1997 and completed a standardized medical questionnaire that included questions about their childhood. Researchers followed participants through the end of 2006, using the National Death Index to discover who had died. "Overall, 1,539 people died during follow-up," Brown said. "People with six or more ACEs died nearly 20 years earlier on average than those without ACEs. It is also disturbing that two-thirds of study participants - persons who were relatively well off - had at least one of the ACEs." Brown DW, et al. Adverse childhood experiences and the risk of premature mortality. Am J Prev Med, 37(5), 2009 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006115140.htm

High Rates Of Childhood Exposure To Violence And Abuse In United States, New Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Oct. 7, 2009) - A new study from the University of New Hampshire finds that U.S. children are routinely exposed to even more violence and abuse than has been previously recognized, with nearly half experiencing a physical assault in the study year.
"Children experience far more violence, abuse and crime than do adults," said David Finkelhor, director of the UNH Crimes against Children Research Center and the study director. "If life were this dangerous for ordinary grown-ups, we'd never tolerate it."The research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The research results are presented in the journal Pediatrics and an Office of Justice Programs/OJJDP bulletin titled "Children's Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey."UNH researchers asked a national sample of U.S. children and their caregivers about a far broader range of exposures than has been done in the past. According to the research, three out of five children were exposed to violence, abuse or a criminal victimization in the last year, including 46 percent who had been physically assaulted, 10 percent who had been maltreated by a caregiver, 6 percent who had been sexually victimized, and 10 percent who had witnessed an assault within their family....The study found that more than a third of the children had had two or more different kinds of exposures in the past year and 11 percent had five or more....The study was conducted in 2008 and involved interviews with caregivers and youth about the experiences of a nationally representative sample of 4,549 children ages 0-17. In addition to Finkelhor, the authors include Heather Turner, professor of sociology at UNH, Richard Ormrod, research professor of geography at UNH, and Sherry Hamby, research associate professor of psychology at Sewanee, the University of the South. Study information is at Crimes Against Children Research Center http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/index.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091007081351.htm

describes crimes
Teens become prey in Charlotte sex trade - Human trafficking case shows the desperate plight of girls forced into prostitution by Franco Ordoñez 10/4/09 The FBI estimates that some 18,000 people are trafficked into the United States for sex or forced labor. About a fourth end up in the Southeast; thousands come to the Carolinas. Most victims of the sex rings are from Latin America, others from Asia and Eastern Europe. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/topstories/story/983851.html