Does Child Maltreatment Lead To Crime?

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Does Child Maltreatment Lead to Crime? By: Charissa Zugg August 3, 2001(written on) Does Child Maltreatment Lead to Crime? Child maltreatment has been a growing concern for many years. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2007 approximately 794,000 children were determined to have been the victims of child abuse and/or neglect as well as an estimated 1,760 children younger than 18 died as the result of maltreatment (Hammond, 2011). Crime is one of the most socially costly potential outcomes for maltreatment. The link between child maltreatment and crime is all over the news. According to a CNN report, the Washington D.C. sniper, John Muhammad, “was regularly and severely beaten as a child by several relatives, including an uncle who beat another child to death...” (Malvo, 2004). As a child, the "Boston Strangler," Albert DeSalvo, was actually sold off as a slave by his alcoholic father (Scott, 2011). There have been a few studies done to link the effects of childhood maltreatment to crime with a result of little hard evidence. As Cox, Allen, Hanser and Conrad (2008) point out, “The exact nature of the relationship between psychopathology and child abuse remain unclear.” Research proves there are strong causual relationships between the two though. In this paper, the following questions will be addressed: 1. What are the different types of maltreatment that are being looked at? 2. Why would maltreatment cause crime? 3. What studies, facts or data have led to findings? 4. What is the cost to society? The review of the literature on the relationship between child abuse and the effects on crime focuses on these four questions. What are the different types of maltreatment that are being looked at? Child maltreatment takes many forms. Collectively child maltreatment can be physical, sexual, psychological, and

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