Abstract
Maltreatment of children by their parents is not a new development in the history of societies. As investigators like Burgess (1979) and Steele (1976) have pointed out, violence within families has probably existed since the early beginnings of civilization when family units first developed. In ancient Rome, children were considered the property of their parents; fathers could, if they so desired, kill their own offspring with complete legal impunity. In Biblical times, there are frequent accounts of children being sacrificed or killed, such as when the Pharaoh directed the killing of all Hebrew children (Exodus 1:15, 1:22) and when King Herod ordered that all male children under two years of age be murdered (Matthew 2:16).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1983 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kelly, J.A. (1983). The Incidence and Scope of Child-Abusive Behavior. In: Treating Child-Abusive Families. Applied Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0363-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0363-1_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-0365-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-0363-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive