NCJ Number
208681
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2005 Pages: 5-25
Date Published
February 2005
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This article presents the methodology and findings of the Developmental Victimization Survey, which obtained 1-year incidence estimates of a range of childhood victimizations across gender, race, and developmental stage.
Abstract
The survey, which was conducted between December 2002 and February 2003, assessed the victimization experiences of a nationally representative sample of 2,030 children ages 2 to 17 years old living in the contiguous United States. The interviews with parents and youth were conducted by phone. The survey instrument was the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire, which solicited information on a wide range of experiences, including nonviolent victimizations and events that children and parents do not generally perceive as crimes. The questions were presented in words and concepts that children could understand. The survey found that just over one-half of the children and youth had been physically assaulted at some time in the study year; more than 1 in 4 had been victimized by a property offense; more than 1 in 8 had experienced some form of child maltreatment; 1 in 12 had been sexually victimized; and just over 1 in 3 had been a witness to violence or experienced another form of indirect victimization. Twenty-nine percent reported no direct or indirect victimization. The mean number of victimizations for a child or youth who had any type of victimization was three. A child or youth with one victimization had a 69-percent chance of being victimized again within a single year. 7 tables, 1 figure, 3 notes, 68 references, and appended questionnaire and victimization definitions