American children may spend their evenings doing homework or watching television, or some adolescents may have jobs. This is normal for people under 18 in America. However, today in other parts of the world, children are bought, sold and recruited into armies, where their fate and future are left in the hands of their leaders. Many people wonder why children are so often drafted into the military and what happens to them once they are drafted. Many different variables, including so-called push and pull factors, can play a role in the process of turning a child into a soldier. The term "push factor" is used to describe any external source of pressure to enlist or be recruited. These factors may include trauma, brutalization, deprivation, institutionalized violence and socio-cultural factors. A study was done on children living in an underdeveloped and war-torn country, and the results indicated that each child had an average of four war stressors (Somasundaram). These war stressors include malnutrition, abuse and displacement. Often, people who experience a lot of trauma feel numb to their surroundings. It would be easy for a strong man to take advantage of these vulnerable children and take them as slaves or soldiers. Institutionalized violence, or violence distributed by the government, occurs particularly in countries that conscript child soldiers. This can refer to laws that do nothing to prevent child recruitment, agents who publicly mistreat their citizens, or laws that go so far as to create loopholes for those who recruit children. For example, there is a gap in the Kenyan constitution that does not prohibit all forms of slavery. Il banis ...... middle of paper ......tice 24 (nd): 276-83. Internet. March 6, 2014.Flock, Elizabeth. “Child soldiers still used in more than 25 countries around the world.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, March 14, 2012. Web. March 20, 2014. International decisions. 106 809. International Criminal Court. Nd Web. March 6, 2014. Gray, Stephen. “Two African child soldiers: the Kourouma and DongalaKimmel, Carrie E. and Jini L. Roby. “Institutionalized child abuse: the use of child soldiers.” International Social Work 50 (2007): 740. Sage. Web. 10 March 2014. Odhiambo, EOS, J. Kassilly, LT Maito, K. Onkware and WA Oboka. “The Constitution of Kenya and Child Trafficking as a Security Threat” Journal of Defense Resources Management 3.2 (nd). : 75. Academic OneFile Web. March 6, 2014. Somasundaram, Daya “Child Soldiers: Understanding the Context.” 324 (202) : 1268-271.. 2014.