Police arrested a woman Thursday, January 9, for allegedly abusing three young boys, including a 7-year-old whose lifeless body was found in a plastic storage bin. The two other children were discovered in a dark cellar in Newark, New Jersey, the previous Saturday. The suspect, Sherry Murphy, had been watching the children while their mother served an eight-month prison sentence for child endangerment. While this shocking case is far from being a typical occurrence, the unfortunate fact remains that child abuse is a serious national problem.
"There are tens of thousands of cases in the U.S. a year," says N.G. Berrill, Ph.D., a forensic psychologist based in Brooklyn, New York. Most stem from excessive corporal punishment, defined as a combination of neglect and physical or sexual abuse. And most of these instances go unreported. Sadly, the child welfare system does not always work correctly. "I'm sure there are tons of cases—not only in New Jersey—where kids slip between the cracks," laments Berrill.
