PERSONAL PRACTICE

Classification of child abuse by motive and degree rather than type of injury

D P Southall¹, M P Samuels², M H Golden³

¹ Honorary Medical Director, Child Advocacy International (www.childadvocacyinternational.co.uk and www.childfriendlyhealthcare.org), Consultant Paediatrician, North Staffordshire Hospital, and Foundation Professor of Paediatrics, Keele University, UK
² Consultant Paediatrician, North Staffordshire Hospital and Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics, Keele University, UK
³ Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Aberdeen, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Prof. D P Southall, Academic Department of Paediatrics, City General Hospital, Stoke on Trent ST4 6QG, UK;
davids{at}doctors.org.uk

The protection of children may be enhanced if ill treatment is classified by motive and degree rather than by type of injury. Four categories are proposed: A, abuse: premeditated ill treatment undertaken for gain by disturbed, dangerous, and manipulative individuals; B, active ill treatment: impulsively undertaken because of socioeconomic pressures, lack of education, resources, and support, or mental illnesses; C, universal mild ill treatment: behaviour undertaken by all normal caring parents in all societies; and D, neglect: defined here as an unintentional failure to supply the child’s needs. Such a classification could clarify the procedures for investigation and protection, and support the creation of a Special Interagency Taskforce on Criminal Abuse (SITCA) for those suspected of abuse (category A).

Keywords: abuse; injury; classification

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Harvey Marcovitch
Arch. Dis. Child. 2003 88: 95. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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Category D: unknown whether ill treatment is cause

Edmund A S (Tony) Nelson, et al.

ADC Online, 17 Feb 2003 [Full text]