This article is a recipe for prevention. In its conclusion important questions are raised about how we hold juvenile offenders accountable. It is my opinion that in regards to juvenile offenders, the science has been ignored too long.

The Anna Institute: Anna Caroline Jennings

 Sunday, October 01, 2000

Wounds That Time Won’t Heal

The Neurobiology of Child Abuse

By: Martin H. TeicherM.D., Ph.D.

We easily understand how beating a child may damage the developing brain, but what about the all-too-common psychological abuse of children? Because the abuse was not physical, these children may be told, as adults, that they should just “get over it.”

But as developmental neuropsychiatrist Martin H. Teicher reveals, scientists are discovering some startling connections between abuse of all kinds and both permanent debilitating changes in the brain and psychiatric problems ranging from panic attacks to posttraumatic stress disorder. In these surprising physical consequences of psychological trauma, Teicher sees not only a wake-up call for our society but hope for new treatments. 

- See more at: 

http://www.dana.org/Cerebrum/2...logy_of_Child_Abuse/