posted 10-01-2002 07:05 PM            

Today: October 01, 2002 at 13:20:30 PDT

Bias Seen in Child Abuse Reporting

By LINDSEY TANNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO- Black and Hispanic children hospitalized with broken bones suffered in accidents are far more likely than white youngsters to be checked for child abuse, a study found.

The findings suggest that some doctors may be unfairly suspicious of minorities and are overlooking actual abuse among whites, the researchers said.

"This study is a reminder to be as thorough and objective as possible in evaluating children with injuries," said Dr. Cindy Christian, who led the study at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

The researchers said the findings bolster suspicions that abuse among white children is underdiagnosed. They said it also points to another area of medicine where racial disparities and possible bias may affect health care.

They did not determine the race of the doctors involved, but they said they suspect that many were white and that the doctors' biases probably played a role in the findings.

"All of us have personal biases," Christian said. "It's human nature not to be able to see something negative in a person or group of people who are like you."

The findings were published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study involved 388 children under 3 who were treated for skull, arm or leg fractures at the Philadelphia hospital between 1994 and 2000. Two child-abuse experts reviewed the injuries and determined which ones were accidental and which were caused by abuse.

Minority children 1 year old and up with accidental injuries were over three times more likely to be reported to authorities for suspected abuse. They were also more likely to be subjected to a detailed type of X-ray often ordered when abuse is suspected.

Whether child abuse is more common among black and Hispanic children than among whites is uncertain; studies have had conflicting results. Most have concluded that low income is more strongly linked to abuse than race.

In the study, abuse was about twice as common among minority children. But racial differences in how children were evaluated remained even when the different rates were taken into account.

The study echoes research into shaken-baby syndrome that suggested abuse was commonly missed in children from white, well-educated parents "because those are the kinds of families that medical providers tend to suspect least," said Dr. Lawrence Ricci, a Maine pediatrician who specializes in child-abuse issues.

"Medical providers are taught, and need to be taught, to completely discount their impression of parents" and to focus on the child's injury, Ricci said.

On the Net:

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

posted 10-02-2002 12:16 AM            

10 Youths Held in Mob Beating Death

By MELISSA TRUJILLO

ASSOCIATED PRESS MILWAUKEE- A man attacked by a mob of children who savagely beat him with rakes, shovels and bats died Tuesday, as authorities arrested 10 youths and sought six others.

The juveniles, ages 10 to 18, attacked Charlie Young Jr. late Sunday after a fight that started when one of the children tossed an egg at him, police said. Young, 36, suffered severe brain injuries and was hospitalized in critical condition after the beating.

He died Tuesday, said Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital spokesman Mark McLaughlin. "It was unhuman what they did," the victim's brother, Keith Young, told WTMJ-TV.

Police Chief Arthur Jones said as many as 20 young men who had gathered Sunday night prodded a 10-year-old to throw an egg at Young. The egg hit the Milwaukee man in the shoulder, and he started chasing the boy. But a 14-year-old got between the two and Young punched the older boy, knocking out a tooth.

Several of the youths then banded together and chased Young, picking up shovels, rakes, baseball bats, a folding chair and other items to beat him with, Jones said. When they reached the porch of a house, they pummeled him, leaving blood spattered from floor to ceiling, police said.

"They were pounding on him and hollering, 'Hey, let me use that.' It was like a game to them," said Anthony Brown, who lives in the house.

Young managed to briefly escape into the house, but the mob dragged him back outside and beat him until police responded to a neighbor's 911 call, the landlord said.

Residents and police said the neighborhood in Milwaukee's north side is rife with violence.

"Just to come home to trouble every night gets kind of tiresome," said Erinn Payne, 22, who witnessed the attack but walked by, thinking the children were beating an animal. "People are always fighting or arguing, there's always something going on."

Jones said "a large number of our enforcement efforts" are focused on the neighborhood. The chief said Young apparently was a random victim.

"We have no reason to believe they (the youths) knew this was Mr. Young or they targeted Mr. Young," Jones said.

Four teens - three 13-year-olds and a 15-year-old - appeared in court Tuesday evening, where a court commissioner ordered that they be held in a detention facility until they are charged.

All 10 youths taken into custody could face charges as early as Wednesday, though Jones didn't know if they would be charged as adults or juveniles. Authorities continued to search for the six other suspects.

posted 10-06-2002 10:23 PM            

CONWAY, Arkansas (AP) -- Police charged a mother and her twin 13-year-olds in the fatal beating of a woman on a city street.

Police spokesman Lt. Chip Stokes said the three family members were taken into custody on suspicion of second-degree murder in the death of Altellia Givan, 42, shortly after 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

"From what we have gathered, there was a fight at the residence and the suspects chased her down the street," Stokes said. He said witnesses told police Givan was allegedly beaten with pieces of lumber or tree limbs.

Evelyn Ticey and her twin boy and girl were being held at the Faulkner County Detention Center, a police dispatcher said. Stokes said the prosecutor's office would decide Monday whether the children would be tried as juveniles or as adults.

The investigation was continuing.

posted 06-07-2004 08:46 PM            

That is not to say that 0.3 percent isn't too many, merely an observation.

My apologies if I may have missed a correction as I didn't read every post in this thread.

Of course I don't honestly beleive that "their" assesment of 0.3 percent is anywhere near accurate. I beleive it is much higher and that was an attempt to normalize priestly behavior by comparing it to what would likely be more in line with statistics for the general population (also not saying that this isn't "too many").

While the range of unusual behavior in criminal and rampage/mob mentality acts occuring in recent years seems to be growing, I think that what is most likely happening is not so much an increase in overall occurances of violent behavior*, but more our impression of what is going on due to the wave of media sensationalism that occurs along with it. It's not hard to understand in this day and age when "reality TV" reigns supreme. The media only shows what the people want to see. This is of course also just another personal opinion, call it an un-educated guess if you will.

After all, truth really is stranger than fiction.

* I feel strongly that heavy metal pollution, and an increase in sensory overload due to technology as well as an increase in erratic weather patterns also have some effect on the increase in violent crimes. But probably only a slight increase. Also just my opinion...

You know what else they say... Opinions are like a$$holes...