About Sexual Abuse
WHAT IS CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE?
Sexual abuse includes sexual intercourse and/or its deviations. This behavior may only be the last step in a worsening pattern of sexual abuse. For that reason and because of their devastating effects, exhibitionism, fondling and other sexual contact with children is also considered sexually abusive.
Generally non-touching sexual offenses include: indecent exposure/exhibition, exposing children to pornographic material, deliberately exposing a child to an act of sexual intercourse, and masturbation in front of a child.
Touching Sexual offenses include: fondling, making a child touch an adult's sexual organs, penetration of vagina or anus — no matter how slight — by a penis or object that doesn't have a medical purpose.
Sexual exploitation of a child is also an offense and can include: using child to film, photograph or model pornography, engaging- child or soliciting child for purpose of prostitution.
CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE STATISTICS
- An estimated 879,000 children were victims of maltreatment nationwide in 2000. Of these, 10.1% were sexually abused. [Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children 's Bureau, 2000]
- In 2000, sexual abuse of children occurred at the rate of 2.1 children per thousand [lbid]
- Five to fifteen percent of all males, and fifteen to thirty percent of all females report some type of exposure to child sexual abuse [Source: Brown, 2000]
- Based on reports to law enforcement, children under 12 constituted roughly 50 percent of all victims of forcible sodomy, sexual assault with object, and forcible fondling [Source: Snyder, 2000]
- A longitudinal comparative study of 1,575 people, 908 of which were abused or neglected in childhood, and the remainder of which were the control group, shows:
- That the abuse/neglected group scored significantly lower on an IQ scale,
- Held significantly more menial and semiskilled jobs,
- Had 1.6 times higher odds of committing crimes as adults,
- And were significantly more likely to have attempted a suicide and developed antisocial personality disorders [Source: Widom, 2000]
TYPES OF ABUSE
In 1998, one-quarter (25.3 percent) of child abuse victims suffered more than one type of maltreatment. These included:
- Neglect — 53.5%
- Physical Abuse — 22.7%
- Sexual Abuse — 11.5%
- Emotional Abuse — Approximately 6%
- Medical Neglect — Approximately 6%
[Source: U.S. Department of Health and Social Services]
SEXUAL ASSAULT OF CHILDREN
- Convicted rape and sexual assault offenders serving time in State prisons report that two-thirds of their victims were under the age of 18. [Source: U.S. Department of Justice]
- One of every seven victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies was under age six. [Source: National Incident-Based Reporting System]
- Among rape victims less than 12 years of age, 90% of the children knew the offender, according to police-recorded incident data. [Source: U.S. Department of Justice]
- Frequently, the person who sexually molests a child is also a child. [Source: National Incident-Based Reporting System]
WITHOUT INTERVENTION POSSIBLE IMPACT OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
- Adolescents with a history of sexual abuse are significantly more likely than their counterparts to engage in sexual behavior that puts them at risk for HIV infection. Source: Larry K. Brown, M.D., et al 2000
- Among both adolescent boys and girls, a history of sexual or physical abuse appears to increase the risk of disordered eating behaviors such as self-induced vomiting or use of laxatives to avoid gaining weight.
Source: Dianne Neumark-sztainer, et al, 2000
DID YOU KNOW?
Overwhelming numbers of juvenile delinquents, adolescent runaways, violent criminals, sexual offenders, and prostitutes report childhood histories of battering and exploitation. The cost to society of supporting and treating these individuals and their victims is staggering.
- A case of identified child abuse costs at least $2,000 for investigation and short term treatment; much more when a child is hospitalized or put into foster care.
- Children who see others abused, or who have been abused are 6 times more likely to abuse a spouse or child when they become adults, than those raised in homes without violence.
- One in 3 girls and one in 6 boys will be victims of sexual abuse before they reach ace 18.
- 93% of abused children are abused by members of their own family.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILD MALTREATMENT AND VIOLENT CRIME
“...The most important factors that contribute to criminal behavior lie in parent-child relationships…” John McCord, The Delinquent Way of Life, 1992
According to a report released by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, “the earliest years of a child’s life are society’s most neglected age group, yet new evidence confirms that these years lay the foundation for all that follows.” In 1998, there were more than 2.8 million cases of suspected child abuse reports by CPS agencies and more than 3 children a day died from abuse and neglect. The majority of child fatalities due to maltreatment occur to children under the age of two and 86% of child abuse occurs to children under the age of five.
A number of studies reveal that being abused and neglected as a child later impacts criminal behavior.
- In a forty-year follow up of abused and neglected children, half had been convicted of serious crimes, became alcoholic or mentally ill or died at an early age.
- A compilation of sixty studies disclosed that one-third of child victims of child abuse grow up to continue a pattern of serious inept, neglectful, or abusive parenting; one-third do not; and one-third remain vulnerable to the effects of social stress on the likelihood of their becoming abusive parents.
- A recent study by the National Institute of Justice indicated that childhood abuse increased the odds of future delinquency and adult criminality by over 40%. Both black and white abused and neglected children were more likely to be arrested than comparison children. Also, youths abused and neglected were more likely to be arrested one year earlier, to commit twice as many offenses, and to be arrested more frequently than youths not abused or neglected.
- According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the annual cost of caring for juvenile offenders in public or private residential facilities is $2.8 billion. One study found that 68% of youths arrested had a prior history of abuse and neglect based on substantial reports.
"High rates of violent juvenile crimes, school failure and adolescent child bearing add up to an enormous public burden, as well as widespread private pain. Our common mistake in preventing these damaging outcomes of adolescence is immense. We all pay to support the unproductive and incarcerate the violent. We are all economically weakened by lost productivity. We all live with fear of crime in our homes and on the streets. We are all diminished when large numbers of parents are incapable of nurturing their dependent young, when pervasive alienation erodes the national sense of community." [Source: CACTX]
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