NCJ Number
197188
Date Published
2002
Length
123 pages
Annotation
This report presents the year 2000 national data on child abuse and neglect that is known to child protective services agencies throughout the United States.
Abstract
In 1988, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act was amended to require the establishment of a national data collection and analysis program. As a result, the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) was set up as a voluntary national reporting system. This document presents the 2000 data from the NCANDS. For the year 2000, a record number of States (34) submitted child-level data. The remaining States only submitted aggregate statistics. The key findings from the NCANDS for the year 2000 include the fact that, nationally, an estimated 879,000 children were victims of child abuse and neglect. This number represents a small increase from the year 1999 data, but is still the second-lowest level in the past decade. In the year 2000, 62.8 percent of children were victims of neglect, 19.3 percent were physically abused, 10.1 percent were sexually abused, and 16.6 percent were victims of other types of maltreatment. Data about the perpetrators showed that females comprised 59.9 percent of perpetrators while males comprise 40.1 percent of the perpetrators of child abuse and maltreatment. Most commonly, children were abused by a female parent who acted alone. Data concerning child fatalities estimated that a total of 1,200 children died as the result of abuse or neglect. Approximately 2.7 percent of these deaths occurred while the children were in foster care. Furthermore, maltreatment deaths were more likely to be the result of neglect (34.9 percent) than any other type of abuse. This report also shows that children ages birth to 3 years had the highest rates of victimization. Rates of victimization were similar for male and female children except in the case of sexual abuse. Female children suffered more incidents of sexual abuse than male children, 1.7 victims per 1,000 female children compared to 0.4 victims per 1,000 male children. This report also contains information on services to prevent maltreatment and to assist victims. Tables, figures, appendices