Child Abuse Statistics

40- 60% of men who abuse women also abuse their children.
(American Psychology Association. Violence and the Family: Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family. 1996)

63% of all males between the ages 11 and 20 who are serving time for homicide in the U.S. are incarcerated because the killed their mothers’ abusers.
(Sarah M. Buel, “The dynamics of Domestic Violence Cases in the United States of America: An overview” in Defending Battered Women in Criminal Cases, American Bar Association, Section of Criminal Justice, 1992)

3 million American children are exposed to domestic violence in their homes each year.
(American Psychology Association, Violence in the Family: Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence in the Family, 1996)

About 45% of the female intimate violence victims in 1998 lived in households with children younger than twelve years old.
(Rennison, C.M., and S. Welchans. May 2000. Intimate Partner Violence. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics)

When Women are murdered by their husbands, children are present in 25% of the cases.
(Crawford & Gardner, 1992)

The maltreatment of children and violence against women often of hand in hand. As many of the half a million children may be encountered by police during domestic violence arrests. There is an overlap of 30 to 60 percent between violence against children and violence against women in the same families.
(Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (November 2000). Safe from the start: taking action on children exposed to violence. (Publication No. NCJ182789) Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Available: phone: 800-851-3420 or www.njrs.org/puborder)

Children exposed to wife abuse suffer low self esteem, depression, poor heath, sleep difficulties, post traumatic stress disorder, poor impulse control, and are at higher rist for problems in school, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual acting out, running away, isolation, loneliness, fear and suicide.
(Peter Jaffe, Davis Wolfe & Susan Kaye Wilson, Children of Battered Women, Sage Publication, 1990)

Girls whose father batter their mothers are 6.5 times more likely to be sexually abused by their fathers than are girls from non-violent homes.
(Bowker, L.H., Arbitell, M.,& Mcferron, J.R., “On the Relationship Between Wife Beating and Child Abuse.” In K. Yllo & M. Bograd, Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse, Sage, 1988)

Children who witness domestic violence were found to show more anxiety, depression, traumatic symptoms, and temperamental problems than other children.
( Schecter and Edleson, Domestic Violence and Children, Open Society Institute, Center on Crime, Communities, and culture, 2000)

Research shows that between 3.3 million and 10 million children in the United States are exposed to domestic violence each year.
(The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, The Future of Children, 1999)

Between 45 to 70% of children exposed to domestic violence are also victims of physical abuse.
( P.K. Trickett and C.J. Shellenback, The American Psychological Association, pp57-404, 1998)

2,000 children die each year by violent means, and 140,000 more are seriously injured.
(U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect; information obtained from a 2.5 year study and released on email computer communication April 25, 1995)

More than 50% of child abductions result from domestic violence.
(Geoffrey Grief & Rebecca Hagar, “Abduction of Children by Their Parents: A Survey of the Problem,” Social Work, 1991)

Some of our country’s “missing children” are actually being hidden by their mothers to protect them from violent fathers. Conversely, abusers sometimes kidnap their children to punish their partners for leaving them or to get them to come back.
(Domectic Violence – A guide for Health Care Professionals, NJ: March 1990)

Older Children may be hurt while trying to protect their mother.
(Domestic Violence – A Guide For Health Care Professionals, State of New Jersey, Department of Community Affairs, March, 1990)

Children from violent homes have higher risks of alcohol/drug abuse and juvenile delinquency.
(Domestic Violence – A Guide For Health Care Professionals, Stats of New Jersey, Department of Community Affairs, March, 1990)

Children from violent families can provide clinicians with detailed accounts of abusive incidents their parents never realized they witnessed.
(Jaffee, P.G., D.A., Wolfe, and S.K. Wilson (1990). Children of Battered Women, Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications)

Abusive husbands are seven times more likely than non-abusive husbands to abuse their children. Battered women are twice as likely as non-battered women to abuse their children, although once out of the relationship, the odds of them abusing their children are reduced.
(Ending the Cycle of Ciolence- Community Responses to Children of Battered Women, Einat Peled, Peter Jaffe, Jeffrey Edleson)

A comparison of delinquent and non-delinquent youth found that a history of family violence of abuse was the most significant difference between the two groups.
(Miller, G. (1989). “Violence By and Against America’s Children,” Journal of Juvenile Justice Digest, XVII (12), p.6)

Domestic abuse is the single greatest risk factor in child abuse.
(National women Abuse Prevention Protection)

Domestic violence is a major factor that contributes to the problem of teenage runaways and homeless street youth.
(National Women Abuse Prevention Project)

Almost half of all battered women were sexually abused as children by male relatives.
(Zorza, J. 1991. Women Battering: A major Cause of Homelessness. Clearinghouse Review, 24, 421-424. In J.A. Drye (1998/1999). The silent Victims of Domestic Violence: Children Forgotten by the Judicial System. Gonzaga Law Review, 34, (2), 230)

Men who witness their father’s abuse their mothers were three times more likely to abuse their wives than men who had not.
(Davidson, R. The Impact of Domestic Violence on Children: A report to the President of the American Bar Association, August 1994)

Boys who witnessed domestic abuse were significantly more likely to approve of violence than girls who had also witnessed it.
(Carlson, B.E. 1990. Adolescent Observers of Martial Violence. Journal of Family Violence,5, 285-299)