NCJ Number
116146
Date Published
1989
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Using a prospective cohort design, this study compared official criminal histories for 908 individuals involved in validated and substantiated cases of physical and sexual abuse and neglect in childhood (between 1967 through 1971) with those of a control sample of individuals with no official record of prior childhood abuse or neglect.
Abstract
Results indicate that abused and neglected children overall had a higher likelihood of arrest for delinquency, adult criminality, and violent criminal behavior than did the matched controls. Controlling for age, race, and sex, results show that being abused or neglected increases the odds that the individual will have an adult arrest by 1.72. Being physically abused and neglected increased the risk for an arrest for violence, but neither type of abuse or neglect was as powerful a predictor as the demographic characteristics of age, sex, and race. While childhood victimization has demonstrable long-term consequences for criminal behavior, the majority of abused and neglected children did not become delinquent, adult criminals, or violent offenders. Thus, the pathway from childhood victimization to later criminality is not direct or inevitable. Implications of findings and limitations of the study are discussed, as are future research needs. Grant-related publications, manuscripts, and presentations are listed. 22 references. (Author abstract modified)