Reeves' mother belongs to a cult. The cult believes that you must be a Soldier of Christ. But to be a soldier, you must fight. Robbie is the son of an addict prostitute. He's raising his little brother alone, while trying to avoid his mother's pimp. Gracie is a pretty girl that lives in a nice house in the suburbs. Life is perfect for her family from the outside. None of her neighbors know the truth- her father is an enforcer for the mafia. Cole's father is a neglectful alcoholic. His father lives only for one reason- to kill again. These kids all have to face the violence eventually, and it all comes together in a climax where even the best of intentions results in innocence lost.

Award-winning journalist Tina Rosenberg spent five years in Latin America--drinking coffee with hit men and sunbathing with death-squad financiers--to understand people for whom violence is a way of life. Her six vivid and haunting portraits illuminate the human face of violence, not only in Latin America, but all over the world.

For the last ten years Betsy Groves has been working with children traumatized by witnessing violence. In this book she shows how children understand, respond to, and are affected by violence, especially domestic violence. Groves makes the powerful case that traumatic events carried out by family members carry the most severe psychological risks for very young children. She uses clinical case studies to show that being young does not protect against the lasting effects of witnessing violence, and she offers ways adults can help.

"Each chapter contains recommendations for legislators, policy makers, researchers, and families. This book should be on the desk, and minds, of legislators, attorneys, social workers and other mental health professionals who encounter and wish to ameliorate the effects of violence in the lives of their young constituents, clients, and patients." -JOURNAL OF CHILD AND FAMILY STUDIESQuestions relating to violence and children surround us in the media: should V-chips be placed in every television set? How can we prevent another Columbine school shooting from occurring? How should pornography on the internet be regulated? The Handbook of Children, Culture and Violence addresses these questions and more, providing a comprehensive, interdisciplinary examination of childhood violence that considers children as both consumers and perpetrators of violence, as well as victims of it. The Handbook offers much-needed empirical evidence that will help inform debate about these important policy decisions. Moreover, it is the first single volume to consider situations when children are responsible for violence, rather than focusing exclusively on occasions when they are victimized. Providing the first comprehensive overview of current research in the field, the editors have brought together the work of a group of prominent scholars whose work is united by a common concern for the impact of violence on the lives of children. The Handbook of Children, Culture and Violence is poised to become the ultimate resource and reference work on children and violence for researchers, teachers, and students of psychology, human development and family studies, law, communications, education, sociology, and political science/ public policy. It will also appeal to policymakers, media professionals, and special interest groups concerned with reducing violence in children's lives. Law firms specializing in family law, as well as think tanks, will also be interested in the Handbook.

The fifth and final book in the Nobel Prize for Literature winner’s ‘Children of Violence’ series tracing the life of Martha Quest from her childhood in colonial Africa to old age in post-nuclear Britain.

This book examines the risk factors surrounding children at risk of experiencing and perpetrating violence, and looks at the positive role that children's rights can play in their protection. The authors propose that violence in childhood is not spontaneous: that children are raised to become violent in poorly functioning families and child-unfriendly environments. They may be exposed to toxic substances in utero, to maltreatment in infancy, to domestic violence or parental criminality as they grow up. Each of these risk factors is empirically linked with the development of antisocial and aggressive behaviour, and each reflects a violation of children's rights to protection from maltreatment. The authors show how respecting children's rights and safeguarding them from exposure to violence can shift the balance between risk and protective factors and, as a result, reduce the incidence and severity of childhood violence. This book will be essential reading for professionals working in child protection or with young offenders, academics, students, practitioners and policy-makers.

`The research methodology and the problems encountered when studying a subject such as domestic violence, coupled with the ethical problems of researching with children, are discussed at length in the book. This gives a good insight into the intricacies of conducting such a research study. The research looked not only at children who were known to have direct contact with domestic violence, but also what children in general thought and felt about domestic violence. The presentation of the findings, both in tabular and narrative form, was well presented′ - Accident and Emergency Nursing Journal `This book offers accessible and interesting reading. It is well written as one would expect from these authors.... There are a lot of pointers for the way forward in terms of both policy and practice. This is likely to become a seminal text′ - Research Policy and Planning ′This is a useful and challenging read for all of us who seek to work effectively and ethically in this complex area of practice′ - Professional Social Work `Just looking at the authors of this book tells the reader that they are about to embark on a pioneering piece of academic research... a comprehensive and authoritative piece of work′ - Domestic Abuse Quarterly `A vital tool for all those working with children′ - ChildRight ′Written in a lucid style and is easy to read... it is essential reading for all students in social work undergraduate courses and also in post-qualifying courses on child welfare and protection. In addition professionals who are directly working in the area of child protection, schools and criminal justice settings would find this book informative and useful in understanding what children and young people want, and need, in relation to living in domestic violence situations′ - Child and Family Social Work ′This book is powerfully written and is essential reading for professional working with and supporting abused women and their children. Its groundbreaking focus on children′s experiences adds much to our understanding of the complexities of domestic violence′ - Journal of Family Studies ′A treasure-chest of rich, diverse and powerful extracts from children and young people... in particular the material presented on different coping strategies used by children who have experienced domestic violence is an important contribution to an area about which very little is known′ - Adoption and Fostering Journal How do children who live with domestic violence cope? How do they make sense of their experiences? Do they receive the right sort of help from formal and informal sources? Drawing on the newest research designed to hear the voices of children and young people, this important book examines children′s experiences and perspectives on living with domestic violence. The authors explore: - the effect of domestic violence on children - what children say would help them most in coping with domestic violence - the advice children would offer other children who find themselves in similar circumstances, their mothers and the helping professions. This accessible book written for students, their teachers, researchers and all those working with children - across social work, health, child psychology and psychiatry, the law and education - will provide a vital insight into children′s own perspectives on domestic violence.

Violent video games are successfully marketed to and easily obtained by children and adolescents. Even the U.S. government distributes one such game, America's Army, through both the internet and its recruiting offices. Is there any scientific evidence to support the claims that violent games contribute to aggressive and violent behavior? As the first book to unite empirical research on and public policy options for violent video games, Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents will be an invaluable resource for student and professional researchers in social and developmental psychology and media studies.

This timely, much-needed resource identifies gaps in our understanding of the effects of exposure to violence on children -- and sets a direction for future research to support interventions and violence prevention.;