This bulletin discusses the second National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV II), which was conducted in 2011 as a followup to the original NatSCEV I survey. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sponsored both surveys. The Crimes against Children Research Center of the…

The publicity about online "predators" who prey on naive children using trickery and violence is largely inaccurate. Internet sex crimes involving adults and juveniles more often fit a model of statutory rape--adult offenders who meet, develop relationships with, and openly seduce underage teenagers--than a model of forcible sexual assault or…

In a representative sample of 2,030 U.S. children aged 2-17, 13.9% report lifetime exposure to disaster, and 4.1% report experiencing a disaster in the past year. Disaster exposure was associated with some forms of victimization and adversity. Victimization was associated with depression among 2- to 9-year-old disaster survivors, and with…

Research examining childhood abuse has shown an association between victimization and psychiatric diagnoses (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder, depression). Historically, psychiatric diagnoses have been emphasized as a consequence of victimization, with less research examining if it also functions as a risk factor for further victimization,…

It is a widely voiced notion that juvenile delinquency and victimization co-occur extensively in the youth population, in particular because delinquent youth engage in risky activities. But theory from the bullying and traumatic stress literatures suggests that there may be additional pathways by which delinquency and victimization are connected.…

This Bulletin discusses the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), the most comprehensive nationwide survey of the incidence and prevalence of children's exposure to violence to date, sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…

David Finkelhor examines initiatives to prevent child sexual abuse, which have focused on two primary strategies--offender management and school-based educational programs. Recent major offender management initiatives have included registering sex offenders, notifying communities about their presence, conducting background employment checks,…

This study explored the possibility that bullies, victims of bullying, and bully-victims (i.e., youth who both perpetrate and are victims of bullying) are at increased risk for victimization in four other domains: conventional crime, child maltreatment, sexual victimization, and witnessing or indirect victimization. It also evaluated the extent to…

Objective: To understand to the degree to which a broad variety of victimizations, including child maltreatment, conventional crime, peer, and sexual victimizations, persist for children from 1 year to the next. Design: A national sample of 1467 children aged 2-17 recruited through random digit dialing and assessed via telephone interviews (with…

This study, involving 44 boys (ages 10 to 16), found that exposure to sexual abuse prevention programs was associated with a lower perceived likelihood of being sexually abused, whereas discussion of child sexual abuse with parents was associated with a higher perceived likelihood. Results are attributed to emphasis on controllability of sexual…

Though no identifiable demographic or family characteristics of a child exclude the possibility that a child has been sexually abused, some characteristics are associated with greater risk: female gender, preadolescents and early adolescents, having a stepfather, living without a natural parent, having an impaired mother, poor parenting, or…

Reviews current knowledge of the most frequently asked questions about child sexual abuse, in areas such as its prevalence and trends, and what populations are at risk. Data presented from 19 adult retrospective surveys show that the incidence of reported child sexual abuse is rising, that less than one-third of the cases were committed by…

The experience of prior victimization (sexual and nonsexual) was found to increase risk for experiencing later sexual abuse in 2,000 American children, ages 10 to 16, even when background variables (gender, race, age, geographic location, quality of relationship with parents, and level of violence in the home community) were controlled. Prior…