Child Abuse

Child Abuse in America

Children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect. Over 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States; however, those reports can include multiple children. In 2009, approximately 3.3 million child abuse reports and allegations were made involving an estimated 6 million children. 

GENERAL STATISTICS    


   . A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds

*More than five children die every day as a result of child abuse.

Approximately 80% of children that die from abuse are under the age of 4. 

It is estimated that between 50-60% of child fatalities due to maltreatment are not recorded as such on death certificates. 

More than 90% of juvenile sexual abuse victims know their perpetrator in some way. 

Child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.

About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse. 

About 80% of 21 year olds that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder. 

The estimated annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States for 2007 is $104 billion. 

• Abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy. 
• Abused teens are less likely to practice safe sex, putting them at greater risk for STDs.
• 14% of all men in prison in the USA were abused as children. 
• 36% of all women in prison were abused as children. 
• Children who experience child abuse & neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit violent crime. 
• One-third to two-thirds of child maltreatment cases involve substance use to some degree. 
• Children whose parents abuse alcohol and other drugs are three times more likely to be abused and more than four times more likely to be neglected than children from non-abusing families.
• As many as two-thirds of the people in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused or neglected as children.