By David Lohr

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On January 30, 1989, New York City criminal lawyer Joel Steinberg was convicted of first-degree manslaughter in the death of his daughter, six-year-old Elizabeth "Lisa"  Steinberg.  For his crimes, he was sentenced to 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.  In the years leading up to Elizabeth's death, multiple reports of abuse and neglect were called in to CPS and various other agencies.  No action was ever taken to remove the child because authorities found "no evidence of child abuse."  Steinberg was released from prison in 2004.

If I wanted, I could fill dozens of pages with similar cases.  Whether we want to admit it or not, kids are dying in this country with frightening regularity.  This is not a new epidemic.  One problem is that these cases often go unreported in the media. 

According to The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS),

there were an estimated 1,490 child fatalities in 2004that resulted from abuse or neglect.  Statistically speaking, that translates into a rate of 2.03 fatalities per 100,000 children.  These are the most current statistics available.  If you look back at 2001, there was a rate of 1.96 fatalities per 100,000 children.  There was an increase in fatalities, but why? 

The increase we are seeing is not due to a jump in criminal cases, but to improved reporting by CPS agencies.  So, even though there is not a new epidemic spreading across America, we need to ask ourselves what we can do to bring these numbers down.  This brings me to the second most frequently asked question I have received this week: Why is CPS not doing anything to protect our children? 

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Jonathan and Adriana Lytle Charged with Torturing, Murdering Jonathan's Daughter

Contact  David Lohr at           crimewriter74@hughes.net

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