Children as Victims of Crime

Over the last few years many studies have been done concerning various forms of child and youth victimization. These studies have included; physical and sexual abuse, bullying, sexual harassment, exposure to community violence and the witnessing of domestic violence. What's scary about all these studies is the end result.

Rather than discussing all the statistics, which would only confuse you as they did me, consider this; only 29% of children had NOT been victimized either directly or indirectly.

Let me repeat that. Only 29% of children had NOT been victimized either directly or indirectly. That is an amazing statistic in itself and based on that there is no need to discuss the other numbers.

However, the problems may be a lot worse than the published reports indicate. The guidelines set for the purposes of these studies tend to overlook certain activities and therefore do not present a clear picture. For instance; studies on community violence will report on the overall picture but fail to report individual cases of child neglect and emotional abuse. Additionally,
"property crimes" against children, such as theft or vandalism, are usually not included in these studies even though children are affected in high numbers and are affected emotionally if not physically.

Assaults by brothers and sisters, non-sexual assaults of the genitals (touching), violence on dates and hate crimes are often not included in reports because the right questions are not being asked. Interviewers tend to focus on "conventional crime experiences" and therefore fail to properly interview victims and their families.

Another problem with the approach used to gather information for these reports is that they fail to identify multiple infractions within the same offense. For example, when a child is "Bullied", physical abuse and sexual harassment often occur at the same time but only "bullying" is reported. Domestic violence is another example. Frequently, violent parents attack multiple family members. When law enforcement is called out on a domestic violence disturbance and arrests the 'parent", child abuse is often
overlooked and unreported.

Fragmentation in these studies is made worse when interviewers focus on age groups such as teenagers or, more often, elementary school children. Focusing on a particular age group can result in a mis-perception that crime occurs primarily to that group.

It is our responsibility as adults to ensure that our children are properly cared for. If you know or suspect that a child is not being properly treated you should report it. If you have children and depend on babysitters, nannies or even siblings to care for them, get a hidden camera or recorder NOW! They are easy to setup and use and may save you both emotional and physical discomfort.