U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Fatal Child Neglect

NCJ Number
124613
Journal
Child Welfare Volume: 69 Issue: 4 Dated: (July-August 1990) Pages: 309-319
Author(s)
L Margolin
Date Published
1990
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study examined the circumstances associated with fatal child neglect in one state to differentiate fatal child neglect from fatal physical abuse and from other types of neglect that are not life-threatening.
Abstract
The typical neglect fatality was a male child, younger than three, living with his mother and two or three siblings. The fatalities from physical abuse were characterized by deliberate, hostile acts on the part of a caregiver, but in the vast majority of fatalities from neglect, a caregiver was simply not there at a critical moment. Table, 19 references. (Publisher abstract)