In Sacramento County, Kevin Harper, 25 years-old, faces assault and murder charges for the death of his 6-month-old son. He currently is being held in the Sacramento County Jail. On August 21, his son was mortally wounded while in his care. The baby’s mother was not home at the time of the brutal assault. The injured baby was transferred to UC Davis Medical Center where he later died. According to news stories, doctors agree that the trauma inflicted on the baby was non-accidental. There was no prior history of family involvement with Child Protective Services.
Remember approximately four million children are abused annually. Less than half of those cases get reported. Approximately two thousand children die from abuse and neglect each year (http://www.childdeathreview.org/causesCAN.htm). There are approximately two deaths per 100,000 children (http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/CMP/CMP-conque.htm). Infants make up almost half of these deaths. Most non-accidental head trauma victims are under one year of age, but may be as old as four years of age. Approximately 1,300 children experience near-fatal and fatal head trauma annually. (http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/CM_Data_Sheet.pdf) According to CPS databases, for every one thousand children between the ages of 0 – 1 year-olds, 24 of them are maltreated.
