Home may be a very dangerous place for children. According to experts, there is “an overlap of 30 to 60 percent between violence against children and violence against women in the same families.”4 As a result, children are victims “of serious physical abuse within the homes” far more often than they are “severely injured in acts of violence on school grounds or elsewhere,” statistics show.5 Law enforcement officials estimate that roughly 500,000 children are encountered during domestic violence calls. But the number of children harmed or affected by domestic violence may be much higher. A Special Report commissioned by the Justice Department that involved a review of five years of agency statistics paints a “daunting picture for the future of our children, even if only one child in each of those households is exposed to violence,” researchers concluded.6 During that five-year period, more than 450,000 victims of “intimate partner” violence reported that they were living with children under the age of 12.7 Population experts suggest that roughly 27 percent of all households are home to children of this age group.8
Very young children are at particular risk of death by violence. The statistics here are devastating. Child abuse is the leading cause of death in children under age 1, according to the U.S. Justice Department.9 In a single year, for example – 1997 – roughly 76 percent of all children who died in abuse or neglect-related cases were under the age of four.10 And the odds of survival don’t always, or necessarily, improve with age for some children. “National estimates based upon a 1995 survey indicate that of the nation’s 22.3 million children between the ages of 12 and 17, approximately 1.8 million have been victims of a serious sexual assault; 3.9 million have been victims of a serious physical assault; and almost 9 million have witnessed serious violence.”11 “In addition, six young people (under the age of 18) were murdered everyday in 1997; 56 percent of them [were] killed with a firearm.”12
In many cases, violence actually begins before a child is born. According to the American Medical Association, between 22 and 35 percent of the women seeking medical attention in emergency rooms during pregnancy are victims of domestic violence. Estimates also suggest that more than 20 percent of pregnant women seeking prenatal care are victims of abuse. But those numbers, though staggering on their own, are only part of the story. Women are at twice the risk of battery during pregnancy, and roughly 40 percent of assaults on women by their male partners began during the first pregnancy.13 In terms of actual numbers, what these statistics generally mean is that about 324,000 pregnant women are battered each year by intimate partners, according to the CDC.14 In addition, one in five pregnant women is believed to have a husband or boyfriend who has a history of intimate partner violence.
Children caught in the fray may suffer post-traumatic stress. Family violence takes place every day in homes across the country.15 Exposure to violence can have devastating effects on the adults and children who are exposed to, or experience, it. This is true whether they are the direct victims of violence or witnesses to it. “Children suffer severe emotional and developmental consequences from exposure to violence. Approximately 2 million adolescents ages 12-17 appear to have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (a long-term mental health condition characterized by a variety of behavioral and psychological symptoms), presumably stemming from violent experiences in their past,”16 researchers note.
Children who witness violence sometimes become the perpetrators of violence. “Violence is learned behavior,” experts say. “Both national and local research suggests that about 1 in 3 men report observing or being the victim of violence in their family of origin. According to statistics, roughly “79 percent of violent children have witnessed violence between their parents.”19 In addition to learning violence in their families, research suggests that boys and men also “learn violence” today from their “peers, television, film, sports, the military or school.”17 That’s a problem, because “[c]hildren who grow up in violent homes often come to believe that violence is normal.” In addition, exposure to violence at an early age can make it more likely that children will “become either perpetrators of abuse or victims of violence in adulthood,” experts say.18 Finally, “[b]eing abused or neglected as a child increases the likelihood of arrest as a juvenile by 53 percent and of arrest for a violent crime as an adult by 38 percent,” according to Justice Department statistics. 20
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1See SAFE FROM THE START, U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, available at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/182789.pdf, at xiii.
2See Intimate Partner Violence, Special Report, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, revised Jan. 31, 2002, available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv.pdf, at pp. 1, 6.
3See SAFE FROM THE START, supra note 1, at xiii.
4Id.
5Id.
6See Family Violence, NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFERENCE SERVICE, available at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/family_violence/Summary.html, at p. 1.
7Id. at p. 1.
8See Intimate Partner Violence, supra note 2, at pp. 1, 6.
9See SAFE FROM THE START, supra note 1, at xiii.
10Id.
11Id.
12Id.
13For more information of this research, contact the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women in Philadelphia on-line at: http://www.ncdbw.org.
14J.A. Gazmararian et al., Violence and Reproductive Health; Current Knowledge and Future Research Directions, MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH JOURNAL, Vol. 4 (2), 2000, at pp. 79-84.
15“Family violence,” as defined for purposes of federal statistics, includes “child physical and sexual abuse, child neglect and maltreatment, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse.” See Family Violence, supra note 6, at p. 1.
16See SAFE FROM THE START, supra note 1, at xiii.
17See Assessment of the Current Response to Domestic Violence in Chicago 2007, REPORT BY THE CITY OF CHICAGO MAYOR’S OFFICE ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, available at: www.cityofchicago.org/domesticviolence, at p. 8 (citing E.W. GONDOLF, BATTERER INTERVENTION SYSTEMS (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2002).
18See HOT TOPICS IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, materials compiled, published and presented by and on behalf of the Illinois State Bar Association, May 10, 2007, at p. 14.
19See THE INVISIBLE VICTIMS: CHILDREN OF THE WAR AT HOME, published by The Family Prevention Fund, 1991.
20See SAFE FROM THE START, supra note 1, at xiii.
Very young children are at particular risk of death by violence. The statistics here are devastating. Child abuse is the leading cause of death in children under age 1, according to the U.S. Justice Department.9 In a single year, for example – 1997 – roughly 76 percent of all children who died in abuse or neglect-related cases were under the age of four.10 And the odds of survival don’t always, or necessarily, improve with age for some children. “National estimates based upon a 1995 survey indicate that of the nation’s 22.3 million children between the ages of 12 and 17, approximately 1.8 million have been victims of a serious sexual assault; 3.9 million have been victims of a serious physical assault; and almost 9 million have witnessed serious violence.”11 “In addition, six young people (under the age of 18) were murdered everyday in 1997; 56 percent of them [were] killed with a firearm.”12
In many cases, violence actually begins before a child is born. According to the American Medical Association, between 22 and 35 percent of the women seeking medical attention in emergency rooms during pregnancy are victims of domestic violence. Estimates also suggest that more than 20 percent of pregnant women seeking prenatal care are victims of abuse. But those numbers, though staggering on their own, are only part of the story. Women are at twice the risk of battery during pregnancy, and roughly 40 percent of assaults on women by their male partners began during the first pregnancy.13 In terms of actual numbers, what these statistics generally mean is that about 324,000 pregnant women are battered each year by intimate partners, according to the CDC.14 In addition, one in five pregnant women is believed to have a husband or boyfriend who has a history of intimate partner violence.
Children caught in the fray may suffer post-traumatic stress. Family violence takes place every day in homes across the country.15 Exposure to violence can have devastating effects on the adults and children who are exposed to, or experience, it. This is true whether they are the direct victims of violence or witnesses to it. “Children suffer severe emotional and developmental consequences from exposure to violence. Approximately 2 million adolescents ages 12-17 appear to have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (a long-term mental health condition characterized by a variety of behavioral and psychological symptoms), presumably stemming from violent experiences in their past,”16 researchers note.
Children who witness violence sometimes become the perpetrators of violence. “Violence is learned behavior,” experts say. “Both national and local research suggests that about 1 in 3 men report observing or being the victim of violence in their family of origin. According to statistics, roughly “79 percent of violent children have witnessed violence between their parents.”19 In addition to learning violence in their families, research suggests that boys and men also “learn violence” today from their “peers, television, film, sports, the military or school.”17 That’s a problem, because “[c]hildren who grow up in violent homes often come to believe that violence is normal.” In addition, exposure to violence at an early age can make it more likely that children will “become either perpetrators of abuse or victims of violence in adulthood,” experts say.18 Finally, “[b]eing abused or neglected as a child increases the likelihood of arrest as a juvenile by 53 percent and of arrest for a violent crime as an adult by 38 percent,” according to Justice Department statistics. 20
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1See SAFE FROM THE START, U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, available at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/182789.pdf, at xiii.
2See Intimate Partner Violence, Special Report, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, revised Jan. 31, 2002, available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv.pdf, at pp. 1, 6.
3See SAFE FROM THE START, supra note 1, at xiii.
4Id.
5Id.
6See Family Violence, NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFERENCE SERVICE, available at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/family_violence/Summary.html, at p. 1.
7Id. at p. 1.
8See Intimate Partner Violence, supra note 2, at pp. 1, 6.
9See SAFE FROM THE START, supra note 1, at xiii.
10Id.
11Id.
12Id.
13For more information of this research, contact the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women in Philadelphia on-line at: http://www.ncdbw.org.
14J.A. Gazmararian et al., Violence and Reproductive Health; Current Knowledge and Future Research Directions, MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH JOURNAL, Vol. 4 (2), 2000, at pp. 79-84.
15“Family violence,” as defined for purposes of federal statistics, includes “child physical and sexual abuse, child neglect and maltreatment, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse.” See Family Violence, supra note 6, at p. 1.
16See SAFE FROM THE START, supra note 1, at xiii.
17See Assessment of the Current Response to Domestic Violence in Chicago 2007, REPORT BY THE CITY OF CHICAGO MAYOR’S OFFICE ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, available at: www.cityofchicago.org/domesticviolence, at p. 8 (citing E.W. GONDOLF, BATTERER INTERVENTION SYSTEMS (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2002).
18See HOT TOPICS IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, materials compiled, published and presented by and on behalf of the Illinois State Bar Association, May 10, 2007, at p. 14.
19See THE INVISIBLE VICTIMS: CHILDREN OF THE WAR AT HOME, published by The Family Prevention Fund, 1991.
20See SAFE FROM THE START, supra note 1, at xiii.