NCJ Number
234564
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 35 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2011 Pages: 147-154
Date Published
February 2011
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the prevalence of child abuse homicides in Kansas between 1994 and 2007 to determine what factors would be useful for developing future preventive measures.
Abstract
The study found that: 63.5 percent of the homicides were considered fatal child physical abuse; almost 60 percent of the victims were female, 78.8 percent were White, 17.1 percent were Black; and 1- to 2-year olds accounted for the largest age group of victims (33.5 percent). Additional findings include: for those mothers who received prenatal care, 74 percent received adequate care; almost 41 percent of the victims were children of single mothers; the majority (81.8 percent) of the deaths occurred in the victims' homes; 42.9 percent of the deaths occurred secondary to abusive head trauma, followed by asphyxia (21.8 percent); 44.2 percent of the cases involved inconsolable crying; and in 26.6 percent of the cases, the perpetrator was the biological father, followed by the biological mother (24.9 percent) and the victim's mother's male partner (19.8 percent). Data for this study came from 170 child abuse homicide cases that occurred in Kansas between 1994 and 2007. The study aimed to obtain significant details on all recorded child abuse homicide cases during the specified time frame so as to provide critical information that could be used to develop future preventive measures. The results of the study indicate that awareness of characteristics involved in child abuse homicide enables opportunities for the use of prevention measures focused on parent education and coping mechanisms for dealing with normal infant behavior that could lead to child abuse. Tables and references