Spotlight
This bulletin summarizes statistics on trends for sexual and
physical abuse. A decline in sexual abuse since the early 1990s is a conclusion supported by 3 independent sources of agency data and 4 separate large victim surveys. The trend for physical abuse is less clear, since several of the data sources show conflicting patterns.
A new study from the Crimes against Children Research Center finds declines in two kinds of youth Internet sexual encounters of great concern to parents: unwanted sexual solicitations and unwanted exposure to pornography. The researchers suspect that greater public awareness may have been, in part, what has helped.
Welcome to the Crimes Against Children Research Center
Newly Released - Two Studies:
Prevalence of Sexting and
How Often Are Teens Arrested for Sexting
Two new studies from the Crimes against Children Research Center suggest that concerns about teen sexting may be overblown. One study found the percentage of youth who send nude pictures of themselves that would qualify as child pornography is very low. The other found that when teen sexting images do come to police attention, few youth are being arrested or treated like sex offenders.
In the prevalence study, CCRC researchers surveyed 1,560 Internet users ages 10 through 17 about their experiences with sexting -- appearing in, creating, or receiving sexual images or videos via cell phone or the Internet. The study found that 2.5 percent of youth surveyed have participated in sexting in the past year, but only 1 percent involved images that potentially violate child pornography laws -- images that showed “naked breasts, genitals or bottoms.”
In the arrests study, researchers discovered that in most sexting cases investigated by the police, no juvenile arrest occurred. There was an arrest in 36 percent of the cases where there were aggravating activities by youth, such as using the images to blackmail or harass other youth. In cases without aggravating elements, the arrest rate was 18 percent
- Read the Pediatrics Sexting Arrests article
- Read the Pediatrics Sexting Prevalence article
- Read the press release
- Contact the Researchers
Related Content
Associated Press: Data and sources for University of NH research suggesting drop in child sex abuse
Researchers at the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center say data from a half-dozen sources suggest child sex abuse cases have dramatically declined since the 1990s.
CNN Commentary: Sandusky sentence doesn't bring instant justice
Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has been sentenced to a long prison term for sexually abusing boys, and for many people, this means that justice has been done. But in the complex crime of child sexual abuse, "doing justice" is rarely as simple as convicting and locking up the offender.
HuffingtonPost Commentary: Embracing Good News on Children's Safety
The new report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics showing a 68 percent decline since 1993 in children's direct and indirect violent crime exposure is not the first or only good news about children and crime.
Read the HuffingtonPost commentary
Read the Bureau of Justice Statistics Report
New York Times article: Researchers See Decline in Child Sexual Abuse Rate
Anyone reading the headlines in recent weeks has come away with an unsettling message: Sexual predators seem to lurk everywhere.
Read the New York Times article
Read the bulletin: Updated Trends in Child Maltreatment, 2010
Read the article: Why Have Child Maltreatment and Child Victimization Declined?
Editorial: Today, sex abuse victims are less alone
If you are a survivor of sexual abuse who has not yet reported, you may be attending closely to the trial of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky to see what happens to those who do. The news is both good and bad.
Read the rest of David Finkelhor's editorial for CNN.
