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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 11:55 am
Time: 11:55 am
Results for children, crimes against (u.s.)
1 results foundAuthor: Finkelhor, David Title: Polyvictimization: Children’s Exposure to Multiple Types of Violence, Crime, and Abuse Summary: All too often, children are victims of violence, crime, and abuse. This victimization may take the form of physical assault, child maltreatment, sexual abuse, or bullying. They may also witness such events in their homes, schools, and communities. Some children suffer several different kinds of such victimization even over a relatively brief timespan. These children and youth are at particularly high risk for lasting physical, mental, and emotional harm. The National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV) was the first comprehensive national survey to look at the entire spectrum of children’s exposure to violence, crime, and abuse across all ages, settings, and timeframes. NatSCEV examined past-year and lifetime exposure to physical and emotional violence through both direct victimization and indirect exposure to violence (either as an eyewitness or through other knowledge). A focus of NatSCEV was multiple and cumulative exposures to violence. A large proportion of children surveyed (38.7 percent) reported in the previous year more than one type of direct victimization (a victimization directed toward the child, as opposed to an incident that the child witnessed, heard, or was otherwise exposed to). Of those who reported any direct victimization, nearly two-thirds (64.5 percent) reported more than one type. A significant number of children reported high levels of exposure to different types of violence in the past year: more than 1 in 10 (10.9 percent) reported 5 or more direct exposures to different types of violence, and 1.4 percent reported 10 or more direct victimizations. Children who were exposed to even one type of violence, both within the past year and over their lifetimes, were at far greater risk of experiencing other types of violence. For example, a child who was physically assaulted in the past year would be five times as likely also to have been sexually victimized and more than four times as likely also to have been maltreated during that period. Similarly, a child who was physically assaulted during his or her lifetime would be more than six times as likely to have been sexually victimized and more than five times as likely to have been maltreated during his or her lifetime (Finkelhor, Turner, Ormrod, Hamby, and Kracke, 2009). This helps explain why victimizations cumulate. More attention needs to be paid to children who are exposed to multiple types of violence, crime, and abuse. Most research has looked only at individual forms of child victimization — such as sexual abuse or bullying — without investigating the other exposures these same children may face. A new emphasis on the study of what is being called “polyvictimization” offers to help teachers, counselors, medical professionals, psychologists, child welfare advocates, law enforcement, juvenile justice system personnel, and others who work with children identify the most endangered children and youth and protect them from additional harm. This bulletin summarizes some of the key findings on polyvictimized youth, based on NatSCEV (see “History of the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence”) and the closely related Developmental Victimization Survey (DVS) (see “Methodology”). Among the key findings: 8 percent of all youth in the nationally representative NatSCEV sample had seven or more different kinds of victimization or exposures to violence, crime, and abuse in the past year. These polyvictimized youth had a disproportionate share of the most serious kinds of victimizations, such as sexual victimization and parental maltreatment. They also had more life adversities and were more likely to manifest symptoms of psychological distress. Polyvictimization tended to persist over time. It was most likely to start near the beginning of grade school and the beginning of high school, and was associated with a cluster of four prior circumstances or pathways: living in a violent family, living in a distressed and chaotic family, living in a violent neighborhood, and having preexisting psychological symptoms. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2011. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Juvenile Justice Bulletin: Accessed November 7, 2011 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/232273.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/232273.pdf Shelf Number: 123247 Keywords: BullyingChild Abuse and NeglectChild Sexual AbuseChild VictimizationChildren, Crimes Against (U.S.) |