Child Abuse in the Victorian Era and Present Day “Child abuse casts a shadow the length of a lifetime”-Herbert Ward. When a child is abused it will always be in their mind their whole life. The victims of abuse will never forget what happened. Child Abuse is physical, emotional, verbal, and sexual mistreatment of children and can result in serious injury or death. In the Victorian Era and today child abuse is similar because they both involve physical and emotional abuse. The differences are that new laws are in place and there a services to provide help for victims of child abuse. The similarities between child abuse now and in the Victorian Era is memorable, and deserve careful research. A major similarity is that both in the Victorian …show more content…
The first difference is that today there are new laws against child abuse and in the Victorian Era there were not as many laws. “Maximum prison sentences for child abuse vary by state with most states treating it as a felony, punishable by at least one year in prison”(Norman-Eady, 2000). As you can see today there are different laws in all states about child abuse. For example, in Virginia someone who injures a child intentionally can go to jail for one to ten years. In Texas if someone intentionally injures a child then that person can go to jail for 180 days, 99 years, or life depending on the amount of harm. As you can see the laws are very different but they are all serious. Back in the 1800 there were not many laws on child abuse. That difference is mainly on the laws and the consequences of child mistreatment. The next difference is now there are many services for children that have been abused. These services provide help for the children who have been abused. Today we have these services but in the Victorian Era it was very different. There were no organizations or services that could help abuse victims. Today we have the services and organizations like Child Help. These are the two main differences in child abuse today and in the Victorian