We live in a day and age in which U.S. state laws permit age discrimination in the Constitutional citizenship birthright to "equal protection" under the law, specifically with regards to assault laws. 

Kids in our country do not presently enjoy the right to be safe from fear of personal injury in America, even though the language of our criminal assault laws and the language of the 14th Amendment's terms of citizenship indicate that they absolutely are entitled to be free from fear of personal injury at any hand.  

This is because of state level child protection laws that allow parental assault upon children as long as the motive is retaliation for displeasure with the child.  Most states do not have restrictions in these laws that are actually enforcable, and many don't address injuries that fall short of life threatening aggravated assault as indicative of abuse.  We can't let this continue.

Children are not lesser citizens just for being younger.  They do not deserve the age discrimination applied to the enforcement of criminal assault laws.


Per Child Maltreatment, the annual U.S. Dept. of Health release on child abuse and neglect data in America:

- 5 kids die every day in the U.S. from abuse.
- 78 percent of the children killed by abuse are under age 3.
- 44 percent of the children killed by abuse each year are under 1 year of age.

The laws must be revised so that people are no longer allowed to commit acts of criminal assault upon children in retaliation for displeasure with their behavior.

Let's send the following letter to our representatives asking them to amend The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act [CAPTA, 42 USC §5106(g)] to offer better protection to children.