Helen Steinhofer

CM220
College Composition II
Professor Varga
June,10,2014.
Unit 4 !is"ussion #oar$.
Hello Classmates an$ Professor,
I ha$ to $o a lot of resear"h an$ topi" gathering for m% thesis, I ha$ to "hange m% topi" along the
&a% as to all the &e'site that I &ent to loo( for information on the se)ual pre$ators I al&a%s
"ame up &ith *ust their pi"tures an$ nothing har$ to onto an$ most of the &e'sites $i$n+t ha,e
the information I &as loo(ing for to 'egin &ith. So I "hose a ne& thesis that I thin( is a 'ig
pro'lem in the -orl$. It affe"ts us all too.
Here is m% inter,ie& &ith m% Step./ather 0homas 0%(s. He has a Ph! in Criminal Justi"e an$
Ps%"holog%.
Question #1 how many times have you been a witness to the horrible crime of the death of a
child from someone that the child knows personally?
Answer: (0homas1 I ha,e seen to man% instan"es &here the person that has a'use$ a "hil$ out
of anger or $espair has gone too far as to "ause $eath &ithout meaning to. I ha$ this one "ase
&here a $run(en father ha$ 'eat a three month ol$ to $eath 'e"ause he &oul$ not 2uit "r%ing for
a 'ottle. -hen the mother "ame home from &or(ing a si)teen hour shift she &ent in to "he"( on
her "hil$ an$ the "hil$ &as alrea$% $e"ease$ 'ut the father $i$ nothing to help the "hil$. He &as
senten"e$ to life &ithout parole for 'eating an inno"ent "hil$ to $eath.
Question #2 what is the hardest thing to deal with in most of these cases that you had to
work and what was the over powering outcome of most of them?
Answer :( homas! 0he har$est part of 'eing in the Criminal Justi"e S%stem is that there are
times &hen there is no "loser for the families that are the ,i"tims of "hil$ a'use an$ a lot of times
the a'users &ere a'use$ themsel,es as "hil$ren an$ $on+t (no& ho& to $eal &ith their anger, so
the% ta(e it out on the one person that "an+t reall% fight 'a"( an$ $o harm is the "hil$ren.
Question #" how has working in the child abuse area of the criminal #ustice system changed
your outlook on people?
Answer :(homas! I &oul$ ha,e to sa% that there are man% times that I &oul$ li(e to sho& the
a'users *ust ho& it feels to go through &hat the% put our "hil$ren through an$ see if the% "an
sur,i,e it or &ill the% $o as the "hil$ren $o an$ not fight 'a"( for fear of more a'use. I loo( at
most people as I &oul$ &ant them to loo( at me as a person of $ignit% an$ ha,ing a heart to not
a'use our %oung "hil$ren to the point of (illing them.
I ha,e "he"(e$ &ith this &e'site an$ Mr. 0homas 0%(s &as right on &ith the information that he
pro,i$es to me.
http344&&&.a"f.hhs.go,4programs4"'4resear"h.$ata.te"hnolog%4statisti"s.resear"h4"hil$.
maltreatment.