Criminal prosecution of child abuse in the Pacific coast of Colombia - a case study on public health alternatives to criminal prosecution of "normal" criminal behavior 1

“What ICBF [the government] wants are children without fingers or hands. Children are getting into gangs and mothers beat them to restrain them from doing so. Then ICBF comes and instead of helping the mom they punish her. The child starts to kill other people and nobody says anything. They are killing 15 year-old kids in this neighborhood. I raise my children with my own laws, nobody is going to change my mind. It doesn‟t matter if this is against the law but I don‟t want a dead child‖ (Mariela, Mother from Tumaco, Colombia, 2006)