- In 1999, 70% of forcible sex offences occurred to persons between 0-17 years of age
- In 2000, 51,100 juvenile sexual assaults were reported (or 2.1 per 1000 children)
- In 2000, 89,000 cases of substantiated child sexual abuse were filed
- In 1997, there were 115 cases of stranger abductions of children. It is very rare. 2/3’s of the victims are female.
- In 1999, 203,900 children were abducted by a family member. Biological fathers are the most frequent abductor.
- In 1999, there were 1,789 child homicides reported, or 2.6 per 1000 children. During the same period, there were 13,484 adult homicides, or 6.6 per 1000 adults.
What strikes me here is the very low number of stranger abductions, though those cases get a disproportionate amount of publicity and media attention. Children in America are far more likely to be victimized at the hands of their own parents, family members, or neighbors than they are by a complete stranger. It is shocking to me how tens of thousands of children are assaulted, abducted and murdered each year. To put these numbers in even greater perspective, as if it needs it, I compared the total number of children victimized, as indicated above, to the total number of children aged 5-13 in various states.
Total number of children vicitimized as indicated in the above statistics: 345,904
Total number of children aged 5-13 in Alaska, District of Columbia, Delaware and Montana: 342,283
(Source: US Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/popest/states/asrh/tables/SC-EST2004-01Res.pdf)
Roughly speaking, the ENTIRE population of 5-13 year olds in four states is equal to the number of children victimized by violence and sexual assault in one year in America. THAT IS A CRIME IN AND OF ITSELF and truly shocking. The repercussions of these crimes on children and society as a whole is almost more than I can imagine.
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Let's look at the people in prisons. This information is from the U.S. Justice Department, Criminal Offender Statistics (www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm
GENERAL OFFENDER STATISTICS
- As of December 31, 2001, there were an estimated 5.6 million adults who had ever served time in State or Federal prison, including 4.3 million former prisoners and 1.3 million adults in prison.
- In 2001, an estimated 2.7% of adults in the U.S. had served time in prison, up from 1.8% in 1991 and 1.3% in 1974.
- If recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, an estimated 1 of every 15 persons (6.6%) will serve time in a prison during their lifetime.
- Sixty-four percent of state prison inmates belonged to racial or ethnic minorities in 2001.
- Fifty-three percent of jail inmates were on probation, parole or pretrial release at the time of arrest.
- Four in 10 jail inmates had a current or past sentence for a violent offense.
- Thirty-nine percent of jail inmates in 2002 had served 3 or more prior sentences to incarceration or probation, down from 44% in 1996.
- Half (50%) of convicted jail inmates were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the offense, down from 59% in 1996.
- Three out of every four convicted jail inmates were alcohol or drugs-involved at the time of their current offense.
- Of the 272,111 persons released from prisons in 15 States in 1994, an estimated 67.5% were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within 3 years, 46.9% were reconvicted, and 25.4% resentenced to prison for a new crime.
- The 272,111 offenders discharged in 1994 accounted for nearly 4,877,000 arrest charges over their recorded careers.
SEX OFFENDERS
- On a given day in 1994 there were approximately 234,000 offenders convicted of rape or sexual assault under the care, custody, or control of corrections agencies; nearly 60% of these sex offenders are under conditional supervision in the community.
- The median age of the victims of imprisoned sexual assaulters was less than 13 years old; the median age of rape victims was about 22 years.
- An estimated 24% of those serving time for rape and 19% of those serving time for sexual assault had been on probation or parole at the time of the offense for which they were in State prison in 1991.
- Of the 9,691 male sex offenders released from prisons in 15 States in 1994, 5.3% were rearrested for a new sex crime within 3 years of release.
- Of released sex offenders who allegedly committed another sex crime, 40% perpetrated the new offense within a year or less from their prison discharge.
CHILD VICTIMIZERS
- Approximately 4,300 child molesters were released from prisons in 15 States in 1994. An estimated 3.3% of these 4,300 were rearrested for another sex crime against a child within 3 years of release from prison.
- Among child molesters released from prison in 1994, 60% had been in prison for molesting a child 13 years old or younger.
The following statistics are a decade old, but I doubt they are substantially different today. The source is a Department of Justice report, found at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cvvoatv.pdf
Addressing the mandate of the National Child Protection Act of 1993, which called for a study of offenders who committed crimes against children, this study found that (a) 1 in 5 violent State prisoners (about 65,000 offenders) reported a victim under age 18; (b) older violent inmates were substantially more likely than younger inmates to have victimized a child; and (c) 8 out of 10 prisoners convicted of sexual assault had committed their crime against a victim under age 18.
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.
- All but 3% of offenders who committed violent crimes against children were male.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The median prison sentence imposed for child murder or kidnapping was longer than that for such offenses with an adult victim; for rape and sexual assault, the median was shorter with a child victim.
- The median sentence for an offender convicted of violence against a child was 132 months or 11 years; when the victim was an adult, the median sentence was 180 months or 15 years.
- About 10% of violent State prisoners with child victims had sentences to life or death; nearly 19% of violent offenders with adult victims had life or death sentences (table 9).
- The reasons for such differences may stem from a wide variety of contingencies associated with both the offense and the offender. For example the kind of violent offense whether weapons were used whether the victim suffered injury whether the offender had a record.
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I'm not sure what all this means. What I see here is that crimes against children are not punished at the same level as crimes against adults, which seems completely backward. If anything, they should be punished more harshly.
What is society to do when a very large number of offenders, particularly in the case of crimes against children, are family members and when 3/4 of all crimes are committed in either the victim's or offenders home? We're so focused on stranger crimes, creepy strangers out looking for our kids...but it looks like the evil is more likely to be in our own homes or next door. What are the demographics of families where this takes place? Does it cut across all racial, ethnic and income levels, education levels? Are there any trends or environmental factors that seem to predict this? Poverty must be one factor. It seems to be in most crimes in general. But that can't be the only one.
Is there anything that can be done to reduce these numbers? To save some children from being victims or is it hopeless? It seems that the vast majority of offenders were themselves victims. It is a cycle. How can that cycle be broken?
Here is a final thought, something I've thought about for a while now. Though I haven't myself been a victim of a violent crime, I did encounter several white males in my childhood that I am certain were child molesters. Males who would drive around the neighborhood when the grade school let out. One followed me and my friend Karen as we walked home from school. I remember there was one situation where we saw the same man several days in a row and he tried to talk to us. We were smart and wary, though, and stayed away and told our parents. I remember hearing my mother talk to Karen's mom. They called the cops and the policeman found the guy and told him he'd cut his balls off if he ever caught him in our neighborhood again. We never did see him again. I also encountered a man asking for directions from his car and when I approached the car, I realized he had no pants on. I think most of my friends have also experienced similar creepy situations. So I think I'm trying to say that the reach of these predators is far and wide, much further than I think anyone realizes because these little encounters are generally not reported and the men move on to someone else. Do those men just get their jollies by following and flashing or are they looking for opportunities? Why do some kids fall prey and others don't? I can't answer these questions.
