Stranger danger

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Stranger danger describes the danger to children presented by strangers. The phrase is intended to sum up the danger associated with adults whom children do not know. The phrase has found widespread usage and many children will hear it (or similar advice) during their childhood lives. Many books, films and public service announcements have been devoted to helping children remember this advice. The concept has been criticized for ignoring the fact that most child abductions and harm are not due to strangers, but rather someone the child is familiar with or related to.

Contents

Proposition [edit]

Although there are other dangers such as kidnap for ransom, the main threat stranger danger campaigns concern is sexual abuse. In recent years, the emphasis of such campaigns has shifted somewhat, in order to reflect the risk of abuse by persons known to the child.[1][2] Common phrases children will hear include:

  • Don't talk to strangers
  • Don't walk with strangers
  • Don't accept gifts from strangers
  • Don't talk to strangers when they ask for directions, ask you to pet their puppy or tell you a parent is injured or in an accident
  • If ever approached by a stranger, tell a parent or an adult who you trust
  • Don't get into a car with strangers
  • Don't text SMS messaging on cellular phones to strangers, when parents, friends and adults are emergency call on cellular phones.
  • Don't Email to stranger on their computer/internet, when that's a emergency call for parents, friends and adults on the internet.
  • If ever approached by a stranger and are still near your school, return to your school and immediately tell a staff member [3][4]

Some proponents of stranger danger proposed to teach children an exception to talking to strangers in situations where the child is in danger for other reasons, avoiding strangers (who might help) could in fact be dangerous itself. Other proponents of "stranger danger" warnings have, however, instead proposed to teach children not to approach anyone without parental permission (such as not to enter a car even if they recognize the person)

Child identification [edit]

In addition to stranger danger warnings, programs from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, local law enforcement agencies and other organizations offer free fingerprinting services usually done in schools, Child care centers, shopping malls, fairs, and festivals. Parents/guardians are provided with child identification sheets to use in cases of abduction and other emergencies. Child identification sheets include the child's fingerprints, photo and other personal data. Neither the FBI nor any other law enforcement agency retains this information. DNA samples are also provided to parents.[5][6][7]

Legislation [edit]

In the wake of Leiby Kletzky, NYC Councilman David Greenfield has said he would propose “Leiby’s Law,” a bill under which businesses could volunteer to be designated as safe places for children who are lost or otherwise in trouble. Employees would undergo background checks and business owners would put a green sticker in their store windows so children know it is a safe place to get help.[8] On August 16, 2011, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office announced a similar program called “Safe Stop”. So far, 76 stores have signed up to display a green “Safe Haven” sticker in their windows to help lost children.[9]

Criticism [edit]

The process of constantly warning children of possible danger in the form of strangers has also been criticised as exaggerating the potential threat and unnecessarily spreading mistrust, especially when considering that (for example) in the US, about 800,000 children are reported at least temporarily missing every year, yet only 115 "become victims of what is viewed as classic stranger abductions".[10] In situations where the child is in danger for other reasons, avoiding strangers (who might help) could in fact be dangerous itself, such as in the case of an 11-year-old Boy Scout who avoided rescue searchers because he feared they might want to 'steal him'.[10]

According to the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center[1], stranger danger evokes more fear than abusers known to the child. This is because we have to operate on the basis of trust and reciprocity with acquaintances and it's hard to view acquaintances as threatening or fear them.

The father who rapes his daughter down the street generates outrage, but not the kind of fear as the stranger who rapes a girl in the neighborhood park.[11]

Stranger danger has contributed to parents keeping children indoors, resulting in an alleged nature deficit disorder.[12]

In popular culture [edit]

In the TV show Lie To Me ("Truth or Consequences"), Dr. Lightman questions a teenage girl about a camera he found at a crime scene. She replies, "Whatever, stranger danger. Give me back my camera or I call the cops." This may imply that since she doesn't know him, his questions seem improper.

Season 1 Episode 12 of Criminal Minds. Episode title, "What Fresh Hell" (2006). Gideon and Reid mention the “Stranger Danger” program that was widely shown in public schools. Gideon states that it "did the most harm to this country in terms of crime like this, child abduction". He went on to explain that it "taught a whole generation about a scary man in a trench coat, hiding behind a tree. Now we learn that strangers are only a... fraction of the offenders out there. Most are people you see every day, your... family, your neighbors... school teachers. You know the rest. Prepared our children for one percent of the danger, made 'em more vulnerable to ninety-nine percent."

An episode of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! looks into Stranger Danger. This episode strongly criticizes the overstressed nature of stranger danger.

In an episode of Adventure Time, Jake the dog drinks from a river which gives him amnesia. Because Jake can't recognize his best friend Finn the human, Finn attempts to drag Jake onward which causes Jake to scream, "Help! Stranger danger!"

The concept of "stranger danger" carried to the extreme was satirized in an episode of South Park. During the episode, the parents of the main characters become increasingly paranoid by the risks posed to their children by strangers due to media sensationalism, to the point where they build a wall to prevent outsiders from entering the town and begin to suspect friends and neighbors of harboring criminal intentions.

In Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, Sam and Sally refer to Dickie as "Stranger Danger."

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ BBC News: Abusers targeted in new campaign (June 5, 2002) Latest retrieval November 7, 2009.
  2. ^ Say NO!: Protecting Children Against Sexual Abuse
  3. ^ NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: SEX OFFENDER NOTIFICATION
  4. ^ Case Management for Missing Children Homicide Investigation - McKenna, Rob; Attorney General of Washington & U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. May 2006.
  5. ^ FBI Community Outreach
  6. ^ Headline News Digital Fingerprinting TV spot 2010
  7. ^ Fingerprinting event focuses on safety
  8. ^ "'Leiby's Law' would provide safe places for children who are lost or in trouble". NY Daily News. July 21, 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2011. 
  9. ^ Rizzo, Lillian (August 17, 2011). "Storeowners post ‘Safe Stop’ signs on windows to help lost kids". New York Daily News. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 
  10. ^ a b Does 'stranger danger' go too far? - MSNBC, Transcript, ET June 23, 2005
  11. ^ "Juvenoia". The Advocate. 
  12. ^ Outside Agitators by Bill O'Driscoll, Pittsburgh City Paper

External links [edit]

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