Throughout JonBenet’s short life, she dealt with abuse from both her parents and her older brother. Family friend and former photographer Judith Phillips has gone on record sharing personal stories about the Ramsey family. She has confirmed that as a child Burke was very temperamental and often fought with JonBenet. A year prior to her murder, Burke had become upset with JonBenet and swung a golf club at his sister’s face leaving a scar on her cheek. Phillips also revealed in an interview that Patsy was an image obsessed mother who frequently got in arguments with JonBenet over bedwetting incidents and her appearance. In an email response to Laurence L. Smith’s book, The Last Christmas of JonBenet Ramsey, Phillips shares a story Patsy told
her in 2003, nearly six years after her death. Phillips wrote that around the same time of the murder, JonBenet was caught sneaking downstairs to look at her Christmas gifts. When JonBenet refused to return to bed, Patsy began to drag her up the stairs to her room. While she was lugging her daughter, she noticed JonBenet begin to gag and instantly let her grip go. Although the Ramsey family appeared near perfect in public and photographs, the investigation revealed life behind closed doors was far from ideal for JonBenet.
Everybody had an opinion on what happened at the Ramsey household on December 25, 1996. Most people believed that the family is responsible for killing JonBenet. Ever since that day, the public has held the Ramsey family under a cloud of suspicion. The family did everything they could do to defend themselves. They believe that an intruder must have done it, but most of the public believes that the family should be held responsible for the killing. The main suspect that police keyed in on was the mother of JonBenet. The reason for the suspicion of the mother was the 911 call made by Patsy Ramsey the day of the murder. In this 911 call, the mother seemed very suspicious. Patsy said “We have a kidnapping” ( McClish). “It seemed like she knew something she was not telling” (McClish 2001).
Sue Grafton once stated: “Except for cases that clearly involve a homicidal maniac, the police like to believe murders are committed by those we know and love, and most of the time they're right.” This is clearly the thought the Boulder Colorado police conceived in the case of little beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. As many have observed from the onslaught of media coverage, the day after Christmas 1996, six year old Jon Benet Ramsey was found buried under a white blanket, bound, beaten, and strangled to death in the wine cellar of their Boulder home. With such a strikingly rare and glamorous story of a six year old beauty queen dead, who was a part of a “perfect American upper-middle class family”, combined with a lack of a lead and ever mounting suspicion piling up against the parents it was no surprise to find that it was fuel to the media and soon stories sold and became a matter of competition between the press. So, like wildfire, this heart-breaking story spread, stretching across the nation, shattering the souls of the world. News broadcasts, magazine and newspaper articles, and television specials all shaped and molded peoples perceptions of this beautiful child’s murder, especially her parents, John and Pasty Ramsey’s involvement or lack there of. The police and FBI’s merciless quest to connect Jon Benet’s murder to her parents, seemed to cause the them to overlook important evidence, or at the very least dismiss suspicious findings that would otherwise send red flags to investigators. There are many contributors as to why this case remains unsolved including lack of investigative expertise, failure to protect valuable evidence, and focusing too much on the parents as suspects but, ultimately, the over involvement of...
First of all, it is easy to see a motive with Burke. At the time of his sister’s death
Janie Crawford was forced into a relationship with Logan Killicks unwillingly by her Grandmother, Nanny. When marrying Logan, she had to learn to love him for who he was and what he did. She never had the chance to know him before marriage. In the text, she says, "Ah'll cut de p'taters fuh yuh. When you comin' back?". (Hurston, 26) This was something that she did not enjoy doing. She had to follow his directions and do as she was told. Janie was trapped in this marriage with no self-esteem. She was dependent on Logan when it came to doing things such as chores around the house. As time passed, Logan had told her, "If Ah kin haul de wood heah and chop it fuh yuh, look lak you oughta be able tuh tote it inside.... You done been spoilt rotten." (Hurston, 25). Day after day, she would follow his directions, being so dependent on his orders; until one day, Joe Starks came into her life.
The events leading up to her murder were typical events for a family on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve night, the whole family attended a Christmas party at a friend’s house. They came home at about 9:30 PM and JonBenet was carried upstairs to her bedroom at 10:00 PM. This was the last time she was seen alive. The next morning at about 5:00 AM Patsy found a ransom note on the bottom of the staircase. The note described the kidnapping of JonBenet and demanded $180,000 or JonBenet would be killed. Patsy quickly went to JonBenet’s room and, just as the note had stated, she had been kidnapped. Patsy...
Ruth Fowler is Matt’s wife of many years and the mother of their three children: Steve, Cathleen and the now murdered Frank. Ruth cannot come to terms with Frank’s death and is haunted at all times of the day, whether at home or out in the town running errands, “She was at Sunnyhurst today getting cigarettes and aspirin, and there he was. She can’t even go out for cigarettes and aspirin. It’s killing her” (108). This quote is a symbolism of her mental state. The anguish of just seeing her son’s killer on the streets with freedom is more than Ruth can mentally comprehend. Ruth continually applies emotional pressure to her husband with comments and allusions to why the killer is still able to roam freely while their son cannot, “And at nights in bed she would hold Matt and cry, or sometimes she was silent and Matt would touch her tightening arm, her clinched fist” (112).
Dave Pelzer’s book “A Child Called ‘It’” told his story of growing up in an abusive household. Pelzer’s family at first was just like any other, his parents loved each other and their children and they would do many fun activities together. As time progressed a change happened and his mother began to always punish Pelzer rather than any of the other children. The small punishments soon began to grow and become more and more serious. Soon, Dave’s father and siblings could not help him out of fear that their mother and wife would turn on them. Dave was banished to the garage where he would have to sit at the bottom of the stairs waiting until his mother called him to do his chores. Usually Pelzer would be starved for very long periods of time
In this world there are many types of abuse or neglect that aren’t always noticed and no one really talks about. We never notice that there are many different types of abuse because we do think that it is so bad that we don’t want to look into it. Social workers specialize in removing the children from the home because they have these things in their lives. Some parents would never dream of abusing their children, and some would never call it abuse. There were several different types of abuse present in the book The Glass Castle, even evidence that the children should be removed from the home.
The way our friends treat us in the face of adversity and in social situations is more revealing of a person’s character than the way they treats us when alone. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, ethnic tensions, nationality, and betrayal become the catalyst that drives and fuels Amir, Assef, and other characters to embark on their particular acts of cruelty. Serving as a way to illustrate the loss of rectitude and humanity, cruelty reveals how easily people can lose their morals in critical circumstances. Through Amir, Assef, and the Taliban’s actions, cruelty displays the truth of a person’s character, uncovering the origin of their cruelty. Amir’s cruelty spurs from his external environment and need for love from his father, choosing
Linda Brent, Ms. Jacobs' pseudonym while writing "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," became so entrenched in hatred of slaveholders and slavery that she lost sight of the possible good actions of slaveholders. When she "resolved never to be conquered" (p.17), she could no longer see any positive motivations or overtures made by slaveholders. Specifically, she could not see the good side of Mr. Flint, the father of her mistress. He showed his care for her in many ways, most notably in that he never allowed anyone to physically hurt her, he built a house for her, and he offered to take care of her and her bastard child even though it was not his.
In a normal functioning family, both parent and child care for and love one another, and display these feelings. A parent is required to nurture his or her child and assure that the child feels loved by spending time together, and by giving the child sufficient attention. However, there are often times when a parent is unable to fulfill these requirements, which can ultimately have damaging effects on the child. A child who is neglected by his or her parents “perceives the world as a hostile and uncaring place. In addition to this negative perception of the world, the neglect a child faces affects later interaction with his or her peers, prompting the child to become anxious and overly withdrawn” (Goldman). This neglectful type of parenting proves to be a pattern in the novel Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, as the main characters, Jimmy, Crake, and Oryx are crucially affected by their parents’ choices and are unjustly abandoned by them. In this novel, the neglect of parents, especially mothers, is clearly reflected in the behaviours of the three main characters.
Obviously, working with survivors of child sexual abuse, neglect, and trauma: The approach taken by the social worker in the Brandon’s case shall begin with “assessment and beginning treatment of the family because child abuse is one of a wide range practice situation in which systems concepts can be applied to help to understand the dynamics involved” in the road for healing and recovery from the physical and psychological effect of the trauma by providing adequate resources available for counseling and therapy due to the devastating impacts of child sexual abuse can be heartbreaking for the victim and the family. However, social worker approach to understanding and responds efficiently by being empathetic to the complex situation as a result; the perpetrator is the father such as in the case of Brandon (Plummer, Makris, & Brocksen, 2014).
Jaleel White is a 12 year old boy who is in the Foster Care System. Jaleel went to 3 different homes after his mother was investigated for abuse and neglect. He’s currently with the Price’s and their foster daughter Laura. For an announced visit Jaleel was clean and wearing appropriate clothing. He told everything clearly without hesitation. For the unannounced visit, Jaleel was dirty and was wearing ripped stain clothes. Jaleel had a bruise under his eyes. He talk with hesitation and not strong eye contact. In the time he stayed with the Price’s , 3 months and a half, the beginning was okay but now the violence is getting worse. The Price’s is a bad home for Jaleel & Laura. Mr and Mrs. Price show bad language and abuse. A main concern I
A Child Called It, by Dave Pelzer, is an autobiography about a boy, David, who is essentially beaten, tortured, starved and humiliated by his mother, Catherine, for a period of about eight years. After explaining the violence David is put through in the beginning of the book, we discover that there is a different side to Catherine years before David was ever abused. Before the abuse began, Catherine had a strong love for her children; for example, she would take them on trips, make special meals for them and more, which made David and his brothers feel safe around their mother. Catherine enjoyed being around her children, especially around Christmas time because they would annually cut down a Christmas tree, decorate it for hours, look at different
Imagine having your dream job, and being with the partner of your dreams, living a fairy tale life. What more could you ask for?