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Insuring Against The Latest Fear Of Hoodies?

Life insurance for children has always been a particularly delicate subject to broach but is more frequently something that should be considered.

Childhood illnesses and accidents are something that occur frequently despite medical breakthroughs and many parents will be taking leave from work to care for their sick child, bringing financial hardship on the entire family. This is where life insurance can help.

As uncomfortable as it may sound to deal with child deaths, it is a fact that 5 children everyday are shot or stabbed in London. Despite a reduction in general crime statistics, the number of violent crimes by children and against children is increasing at an alarming rate.

A study carried out over an eight month period in 2007 found that 321 children had been injured in shootings, 39 of them seriously, 88 of those during armed muggings and 2 involved in gunpoint rapes. Add to this the 952 children who were stabbed, 188 of these labelled as serious, 288 during knifepoint robberies and 10 stabbed in rapes, the statistics are horrifying.

When you think of the individual effect of these crimes on the families involved, that is a lot of time taken off work, possibly even long term counselling for the children involved and the financial loss mounts up. With the right life insurance, that's one less worry to consider.

One of the more recent press headlines involved a 13 year old girl who was stabbed in the school playground with a craft knife by another pupil. It is believed that it was over a gang member caught up in a drugs dispute.

The BBC have received many complaints over its recent story line of a young boy being stabbed in a gang fight. While it is a realistic story line there is concern that people will carry out copy cat attacks and that the programme, aired before the 9pm watershed, is glorifying the problem.

The sad fact is that this problem will go on and on, with more children losing their lives and more families torn apart. With the ridiculous amount of so called human rights laws and superfluous paper work involved in police arrests, children are losing faith in the system. They don't believe that adults and society as a whole can protect them and are taking measures to protect themselves, hardening them in the process.

I think they have a point. People are in fear of the latest 'hoodie' violence by young people but where is their guidance? Parents are not allowed to smack young children as a punishment, schools are not allowed to physically punish children and national service has been done away with. Many people who have had dealings with police will find that once the Crown Prosecution gets involved, cases get dropped because of the amount of paperwork involved in solving crimes.

So, without punishment for wrong doing and with the youth of today growing up in a world where the lives are in danger just through a walk to the shops, is it any wonder they have toughened up to the point of being a danger to themselves and others?

While medical breakthroughs can bring down the premiums of life insurance, it is very possible that premiums will be increased due to the customers location and the danger that society imposes. While life insurance for children is an unsavoury subject, it seems they are just as much in need of it as adults are.

About the Author

Insurance expert Catherine Harvey looks at the need for life insurance for children amid the rising youth crime statistics. To find out more please visit http://www.theidol.com/

Author Profile: sparta

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