This file is provided for reference purposes only. It was current when produced, but is no longer maintained and may now be outdated. Please select www.ovc.gov to access current information.

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 2^nd 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)

The information on this page is archived and provided for reference purposes only.