NCJ Number
159568
Date Published
1994
Length
37 pages
Annotation
This report explains the purpose of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Working Group on Family Violence, the nature and extent of the problem of domestic assault, and the projects and activities of each of the five OJP bureaus represented in the Working Group.
Abstract
Established in November 1993, the Working Group has the mission of providing a more prominent OJP focus on violent crime within the family through improved interagency information exchange, coordinated planning, and collaboration on projects. National incidence and research studies reveal the dramatic increase in family violence and the increasing tendency to respond to the problem not only as crime within the family but also as the prevention of crime outside the family. In 1993, approximately 1,299 children died from child abuse and neglect, an estimated 2.9 million cases of child abuse and neglect were reported, and an estimated 1,016,000 of the reported cases were confirmed by child protective services. Being abused or neglected as a child increases the risk of arrest as a juvenile by 53 percent, as an adult by 38 percent, and for a violent crime by 38 percent. Projects sponsored by Working Group members focus on prevention, detection, intervention, treatment, and criminal justice responses to all forms of domestic assault, including child abuse and neglect, spouse abuse, and abuse of the elderly. Lists of OJP contact persons and recent OJP publications on domestic assault and contact persons in each unit of OJP