Sexual abuse decline

["David Finkelhor" <david.finkelhor@xxxxxxx>]

Our new Department of Justice published bulletin about the decline in sexual
abuse is finally available. Here is where to find it:
http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=11458

DROP IN CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE CONFIRMED BY NEW STUDY

DURHAM, N.H. - A new study funded and published by the U.S. Department of
Justice adds support to the notion that the United States has experienced a
true decline in the 1990s in the number of children suffering sexual abuse.
Cases of sexual abuse substantiated by state child protection authorities
nationwide dropped a remarkable 40 percent between 1992 and 2000, according
to the report authored by David Finkelhor and Lisa Jones of the University
of New Hampshire's Crimes against Children Research Center. But some
skeptics have explained the decline as the result of more conservative
investigation practices or an increased reluctance of the public and
professionals to report offenses, not fewer sexually abused children.
The new study examined the experience of a number of states and concluded
that such explanations could not account for the breadth and persistence of
the decline.
In addition, the study found other evidence that fewer children are being
abused. In self-report surveys of the general population, fewer youth said
they had been sexually assaulted or abused in 2000 and 2001 than had said so
a decade earlier.
According to the researchers, the study also points to other childhood
trends in the 1990s consistent with fewer children being victims of sexual.
Statistics show declines during the late 1990s in births to teenage mothers,
children running away and teenagers committing suicide. All of these
problems can be outcomes of children who experience sexual abuse, and might
be expected to drop if abuse did.
The study could not confirm any particular reason for the drop in sexual
abuse during the 1990s. It listed as possible causes the increasing
prosecution, incarceration and treatment of offenders, the decline in
unemployment, and the impact of public awareness and prevention education
efforts directed at families and children.
In the report, Finkelhor and Jones urged that new efforts need to be
undertaken to understand the actual reasons for the decline in sexual abuse,
so that the lessons could be applied to broaden and extend the encouraging
trend.
The report is available online at
http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=11458

David Finkelhor* Crimes against Children Research Center* Family Research
Laboratory* Department of Sociology* University of New Hampshire* Durham, NH
03824*
Tel 603 862-2761* Fax 603 862-1122*
email: david.finkelhor@unh.edu

http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/
http://www.unh.edu/frl/