NCJ Number
177206
Journal
Alternatives to Incarceration Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: January/February 1999 Pages: 15-17
Date Published
1999
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Children are at significant risk of abduction and sexual victimization, and most of the individuals who perpetrate these crimes are not perceived as strangers by their victims.
Abstract
Child victimization is a large and underreported problem. Evidence suggests at least 20 percent of women and 5 to 10 percent of men experienced some form of sexual abuse as children. Most sexual abuse is committed by men and by persons known to the child, and teenagers and girls are among the most frequent victims of sexual attacks. About 29 percent of rape victims are younger than 11 years of age, and 32 percent are between 11 and 18 years of age. Further, a national survey indicates as many as 114,600 children reported attempted abductions by nonfamily members in 1988. The concept of danger from strangers is difficult for children because it clashes with social constraints on children to be polite to adults. Children usually believe once someone tells his or her name, that person ceases to be a stranger. Research on the victim-offender relationship in child abduction and molestation cases is reviewed, with emphasis on nonfamily abductions. The importance of replacing fear with factual information on child safety is discussed. 2 photographs