The Uniqueness of Macro-Level Trends in Child Victimization: Do Declines in Child Victimization Mirror Declines in Violent Crime More Generally?

• In Event: Non-Criminal Justice Correlates of U.S. Crime Rates and Implications for Eliminating Mass Incarcetation

Abstract

Arguments made about why violent crime declined in the 1990s have largely been limited to findings from Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data. Studies using these consistently collected official data sources are essential to understanding long- and short-term trends in violent crime rates (e.g., homicide, robbery, aggravated assault). However, crimes against children have been less prominent in crime trends research. Children are victims of lethal and nonlethal violent crimes (the latter frequently referred to as child abuse), as well as a host of other child maltreatment-type offenses (i.e., caretaker initiated child physical abuse, child sexual abuse, and child neglect) that may not be captured in the UCR or NCVS. This study examines the strength of the relationship between various trends in child victimization (including child maltreatment) and trends in other types of violent crime at the national level. Using state-level cross-sectional/time series data, this study also empirically tests a number of competing hypotheses about the decline in violent crime with respect to rates of child physical abuse vs. physical assault, child sexual abuse vs. rape/sexual assault, and child homicide vs. total homicide in an attempt to understand the mechanisms by which declining trends differ for adults and children.

Author

• Maibeth Rezey, Loyola University Chicago