U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Child Victimizers: Violent Offender and Their Victims--Executive Summary March 1996, NCJ-158625 Revised 8/04/04 th Full text with tables available from: Bureau of Justice Statistics Clearinghouse 800-732-3277 Box 179 Annapolis Junction, MD. 20701-0179 FAX Number (for report orders and mail list signup only): 410-792-4358 ************************************************ Child Victimizers: Violent Offenders and Their Victims: Executive Summary Jointly Published with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention ************************************************ By Lawrence A. Greenfeld BJS Statistician --------------------------------------------- Characteristics of offenses against children --------------------------------------------- *An estimated 18.6% of inmates serving time in State prisons in 1991 for violent crimes, or about 61,000 offenders nationwide, had been convicted of a crime against a victim under age 18. *1 in 5 violent offenders serving time in a State prison reported having victimized a child. *More than half the violent crimes committed against children involved victims age 12 or younger. *7 in 10 offenders with child victims reported that they were imprisoned for a rape or sexual assault. *Two-thirds of all prisoners convicted of rape or sexual assault had committed their crime against a child. -------------------------------- Characteristics of the offenders -------------------------------- *All but 3% of offenders who committed violent crimes against children were male. *Offenders who had victimized a child were on average 5 years older than the violent offenders who had committed their crimes against adults. Nearly 25% of child victimizers were age 40 or older, but about 10% of the inmates with adult victims fell in that age range. *While nearly 70% of those serving time for violent crimes against children were white, whites accounted for 40% of those imprisoned for violent crimes against adults. *Inmates who victimized children were less likely than other inmates to have a prior criminal record--nearly a third of child-victimizers had never been arrested prior to the current offense, compared to less than 20% of those who victimized adults. *Violent child-victimizers were substantially more likely than those with adult victims to have been physically or sexually abused when they were children, though the majority of violent offenders, regardless of victim age, did not have a history of such abuse. *About 14% of child victimizers carried a weapon during the violent crime, compared to nearly half of those who victimized adults. *About 10% of violent offenders with child victims received life or death sentences and the average prison term was 11 years, somewhat shorter average sentences than received by those with adult victims. ------------------------------- Characteristics of the victims ------------------------------- *3 in 10 child victimizers reported that they had committed their crimes against multiple victims; they were more likely than those who victimized adults to have had multiple victims. *3 in 4 child victims of violence were female. *For the vast majority of child victimizers in State prison, the victim was someone they knew before the crime: A third had committed their crime against their own child About half had a relationship with the victim as a friend, acquaintance, or relative other than offspring About 1 in 7 reported the victim to have been a stranger to them. *Three-quarters of the violent victimizations of children took place in either the victim’s home or the offender’s home. *4 in 10 child victims of violence suffered either a forcible rape or another injury Source: BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991 --------------------- Child murder victims --------------------- *Children under the age of 18 accounted for 11% of all murder victims in the United States in 1994. Nearly half of the 2,660 child victims were between ages 15 and 17. About 1 in 5 child victims were known to be killed by another child. *Between 1976 and 1994 an estimated 37,000 children were murdered. *Since the mid-1980's the increases in both the number and the rate of murder among 15- to 17-year-olds, and particularly among black youth in this age range, have outpaced changes in murder in all other age groups. *The victim-offender relationship in child murder varies with the age of the victim: In most murders of a young child, a family member killed the child, while in most murders of an older child, age 15 to 17, the perpetrator was an acquaintance to the victim or was unknown to law enforcement authorities. About 1 in 5 child murders were committed by a family member. *Data for the period from 1976 to 1994 indicate that in family murder of a child about 10% of victims were age 15 to 17, while in murders by strangers about 67% of victims were in this age category: Victim-offender relationship, 1976-94 -------------------------------------- Age of child victim Family Acquaintance Stranger Unknown ------------------------------------------------ Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Less than 1 year 31.2 4.8 1.4 6.9 1-4 36.3 17.0 6.4 9.9 5-14 22.6 20.6 25.0 21.0 15-17 9.95 57.6 67.3 62.3 Total number 10,795 13,060 4,006 9,092 *Half of all child murders in 1994 were committed with a handgun; about 7 in 10 victims age 15 to 17 were killed with a handgun. Source: FBI Supplementary Homicide Reports, 1976-94 END OF FILE Revised 8/4/04 th