Studies show that at 700,000 children are abused every year! The definition of child abuse, according to Childhelp.org is, "When a parent or caregiver, whether through action or failure to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child." This affects children by taking away their childhood and making them grow up before their time. Child abuse is present in the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton when Ponyboy tells the reader about Johnny, and how his parents abuse him. There are also fragments of Johnny talking about being abused. The book The Outsiders was written in 1967. At that time there was fewer cases of child abuse than there is in today 's time. This is proven in The Outsiders because it 's less common of a social issue that is included, rather than gang violence or smoking. Although it is unlikely that we will be able to fully eliminate child abuse, we can stop child abuse before it is too late. According to Nationalchildrensalliance.org, in 2015, around 1,670 children died from abuse and neglect in the United States. According to Nationalchildrensalliance.org, in 2015 there were around 683,000 children being abused. According to Americanwelfare.gov, during 2015, CPS agencies received an estimated 4 million referrals involving the alleged maltreatment. One example of child abuse is on page 12 where it says, "His father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him, except when she was hacked off at something and