1997-98 Academy Text Supplement
Chapter 15
Child Victimization
Statistical Overview
- In 1995, more than one million children were identified as victims of child abuse or
neglect. Nationwide, the rate of victimization of children was approximately 15 per 1,000
children younger than 18 years of age. About 80 percent of the perpetrators of child
maltreatment were the parents of the victims. Another 10 percent of the perpetrators
were other relatives of the victims. About two percent were persons in other caretaking
roles (e.g., foster parents, facility staff, and child care providers). (National Center on Child
Abuse and Neglect, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1997). Child Maltreatment 1995:
Reports From the States for the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office.)
- Twice as many victims suffered from neglect (52 percent) as were victims of the next
most frequent type of maltreatment, physical abuse (25 percent). About 13 percent of the
victims were sexually abused. More than half of all victims were seven years of age or
younger, with about 26 percent younger than four years old. About 21 percent of the
victims were teenagers. The majority of victims of neglect and medical neglect were
younger than eight years old, while the majority of victims of other forms of maltreatment
were eight years old or older. (Ibid.)
- Forty-five states reported that 996 children were known by the CPS agency to have died
as a result of abuse or neglect. The majority of these deaths were children three years of
age or younger. (Ibid.)
- In 1995, child protective service agencies investigated nearly two million reports alleging
maltreatment of an estimated three million children. The national rate of children who
were reported was 43 per 1,000 children. (Ibid.)
- Nationwide, about 36 percent of investigations for maltreatment resulted in a disposition
of either substantiated or indicated maltreatment, and more than half (58 percent) resulted
in a finding that child maltreatment was not substantiated. (Ibid.)
- Violence against children is one of the least well-documented areas of personal crime.
For example, with regard to the cost of crime, preliminary estimates suggest that violence
against children accounts for more than 20 percent of all out-of-pocket crime victim costs,
and more than 35 percent of all out-of-pocket crime costs when pain, suffering and lost
quality of life are added. (Miller, T., Cohen, M., & Wiersema, B. (1996, February). Victim Costs
and Consequences: A New Look. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of
Justice.)
- The cost of mental health care for the "typical" child sexual abuse victim is estimated to
be $5,800. (Ibid.)
- In 1994, children under the age of 18 accounted for 11 percent of all murder victims in
the United States. (Greenfeld, L. (1996, March). Child Victimizers: Violent Offenders and Their
Victims: Executive Summary. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics & Office for Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice.)
- More than half the violent crimes committed against children involve victims age 12 or
younger, with three in four child victims of violence female. (Ibid.)
- Two-thirds of all prisoners convicted of rape or sexual assault committed their crime
against a child. (Ibid.)
- As violence against women escalates in the home, children experience a 300 percent
increase in physical violence by the male batterer, and may be at increased risk of abuse
by the mother or female caretaker. (Straus, M. & Gelles, R. (1990). Physical Violence in
American Families, Risk Factors and Adaptations to Violence in 8,145 Families. Brunswick, NJ:
Transaction Publishers.)
- According to a study reported by the National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse,
almost 50 percent of children who die from maltreatment in the United States are already
known to child protection agencies. (National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse. (1996,
March/April). NRCCSA News. Huntsville, AL: National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect.)
Research on Child Victimization
According to new research released in April of 1997 (summarized in Chapter 10 of this
Supplement), researchers Kilpatrick and Saunders of the National Crime Victims Research and
Treatment Center of the Medical University of South Carolina additionally have found:
- More female than male adolescents had been sexually assaulted -- 13 percent of
females versus 3.4 percent of males. Sexual assault was defined as "unwanted but
actual sexual contact." The researchers noted that this did not include
unsuccessful attempts at contact or non-contact victimization, such as exhibition.
- Respondents indicated that young males had significantly higher rates of physical
assault than females -- 21.3 percent versus 13.4 percent. Behavior that the study
considered to be a physical assault included being attacked or threatened with a
weapon; badly hurt from a beating; or attacked without a weapon, but with the
intent to kill or seriously injure.
Witnessing Violence
Kilpatrick's and Saunders' research measured the lifetime experience of seeing someone shot with
a gun, knifed, sexually assaulted, mugged, robbed, or threatened with a weapon. The researchers
did not include witnessing violence portrayed in the media -- on television, in the movies, or in
print media. In measuring the lifetime experience of witnessing violence, as described above, they
found:
- Forty-three percent of male adolescents and 35 percent of female adolescents had
witnessed some form of violence firsthand.
- Significantly, according to BJS, the study excluded approximately 30 percent of
adolescents who had directly observed someone being beaten up or badly hurt.
Had the researchers included these adolescents in their overall calculations, the
prevalence of witnessing violence would have risen to 72 percent for the entire
sample of respondents.
(Kilpatrick, D. & Saunders, B. (1997, April). "Prevalence and Consequences of Child Victimization,"
National Institute of Justice, Research Preview.)
Child Maltreatment
In August of 1997, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) within the
U.S. Department of Justice released new findings about the relationship between childhood
maltreatment and subsequent adolescent problem behaviors in the research bulletin entitled In the
Wake of Childhood Maltreatment. The bulletin is part of OJJDP's Youth Development Series
and is based on findings from the Rochester Youth Development Study, an integral part of
OJJDP's program of research on the causes and correlates of delinquency. OJJDP notes that the
findings of this study are particularly valuable because they come from a general population
sample, which allowed the researchers to examine how maltreated youth differ from the general
population. Significant findings from the report include the following:
- Overall, having a history of childhood maltreatment serious enough to warrant
official intervention by Child Protective Services increased the likelihood of
problems during adolescent development.
- Specifically, adolescents with a history of maltreatment were more likely to
engage in serious and violent delinquency, use drugs, perform poorly in school,
display symptoms of mental illness, and (for girls) become pregnant. Childhood
maltreatment is associated with an increased risk of at least 25 percent for each
of these investigated outcomes.
- A history of childhood maltreatment nearly doubles the risk that teenagers will
experience multiple problems during adolescence.
(Kelly, Thornberry, & Smith. (1997, August). "In the Wake of Childhood Maltreatment," NCJ-165257.
Juvenile Justice Bulletin. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S.
Department of Justice.)
Child Sexual Molestation
In June of 1997 the National Institute of Justice, within the U.S. Department of Justice, released
a report entitled Child Sexual Molestation: Research Issues. The report includes information that
has been distilled from several inter-related reports and studies sponsored by the National Institute
of Justice on strengthening the efficacy of intervention strategies and ultimately reducing child
sexual victimization rates. (Prentky, Knight, & Lee. (1997, June). Child Sexual Molestation: Research Issues,
NCJ-163390. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice.)
Missing and Exploited Children
In December of 1997, the U.S. Department of Justice released the 2nd edition of the publication
Federal Resources on Missing and Exploited Children: A Directory for Law Enforcement and
Other Public and Private Agencies. Developed by the Federal Agency Task Force for Missing
and Exploited Children, the directory was created to enhance the coordination of the delivery of
federal services to missing and exploited children and their families. Designed to provide
information about federal resources, the directory is a compilation of the many services,
programs, publications, and training that address issues of child exploitation, child pornography,
child abductions, and missing children cases. (NCJ-161475)
Portable Guides to Investigating Child Abuse
In response to requests from criminal justice agencies from across the nation for guidelines on
investigating child abuse and neglect, OJJDP developed a Portable Guides to Investigating Child
Abuse series in 1997. There are currently 11 guides in the series, each addressing a specific
aspect of investigating a suspected case of child abuse or neglect. The guides are not intended
to benefit only criminal justice professionals. Social workers, physicians, nurses, emergency
medical technicians, firefighters, psychologists, attorneys, and judges -- anyone on the frontlines
of reporting, investigating, and prosecuting crimes against children -- will find them useful. The
Portable Guides address the following topics:
- Recognizing When a Child's Injury or Illness Is Caused by Abuse (NCJ-160938)
- Photodocumentation in the Investigation of Child Abuse (NCJ-160939)
- Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Child Sexual Abuse (NCJ-160940)
- Diagnostic Imaging of Child Abuse (NCJ-161235)
- Battered Child Syndrome: Investigating Physical Abuse and Homicide
(NCJ-161406)
- Interviewing Child Witnesses and Victims of Sexual Abuse (NCJ-161623)
- Child Neglect and Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (NCJ-161841)
- Burn Injuries in Child Abuse (NCJ-162424)
- Law Enforcement Response to Child Abuse (NCJ-162425)
- Criminal Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse (NCJ-162426)
- Understanding and Investigating Child Sexual Exploitation (NCJ-162427)