1.

Defining Child Abuse by Jeanne Giovannoni and Rosina Becerra Abtract: In seeking to clarify the meaning of the terms "child abuse" and "child neglect" it has been assumed that, like other forms of social deviance, they are socially defined phenomena. Interviews were conducted with those professionals (lawyers, pediatricians, police officers, and social workers) who daily handle the problems of abuse and neglect for the County of Los Angeles, and with a representative sample of the general population. In addition, a sample of actual cases of child abuse and neglect drawn from four counties in California were studied. Measures were developed to assess the relative seriousness of the specific incidents of abuse and neglect that had brought the 949 families in the sample under the aegis of protective intervention. The relationship between the seriousness of the incident and the way in which the family was handled was analyzed. The book begins with an overview of the problems involved in defining child abuse. This is followed by a historical review of the changing conceptions of the problems over the past 300 years. The surveys of professionals and the general population are reported in Chapters 3 and 4, respectively. Examination of the actual cases is presented in Chapter 5. The book concludes with a discussion of the policy implications derived from the research. Categories of mistreatment and professionals, ratings, an overview of research methods, and additional tables of data are appended.

2. Journal on Child Sexual Abuse, published by Haworth Press Inc. Abstract: The Journal of Child Sexual Abuse is interdisciplinary and interfaces among researchers, academicians, attorneys, clinicians, and practitioners. The journal advocates for increased networking in the sexual abuse field, greater dissemination of information and research, a higher priority for this international epidemic, and development of effective assessment, intervention, and prevention programs. Divided into sections to provide clear information, the journal covers research issues, clinical issues, legal issues, prevention programs, case studies, and brief reports, focusing on three subject groups - child and adolescent victims of sexual abuse or incest, adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse or incest, and sexual abuse or incest offenders. Research, treatment approaches and techniques, prevention, intervention, and other programs concerning any of these groups are general categories of the published articles and brief reports. The articles emphasize applying research, treatment, and interventions to practical situations so

the importance of the results will be clear. The Journal of Child Sexual Abuse covers a wide array of important topics, including: effectiveness of treatment and interview techniques, use of assessment methods and self-report measures, including plethysmography for offenders, evaluation of sexual abuse allegations, forensic issues and "expert testimony" characteristics and identification of male and female offenders, survivors, and victims, long-term effects of sexual abuse, prevention programs and their effectiveness, intrafamily versus extrafamily abuse, ritualized abuse, PTSD, dissociative and multiple personality disorders related to sexual abuse, chemical dependency and eating disorders related to sexual abuse, ethnic and multicultural issues, the backlash movement and its effects on clinicians, effectiveness of legal, criminal justice, medical, social, and clinical intervention programs. Additional topics include international policy and decisionmaking with respect to sexual abuse, school and family interventions, theoretical models and their applications, psychopharmacology, ethical issues, training issues, mandatory reporting, and legal issues.

3. Does Child Abuse Cause Crime by Janet Currie and Erdal Tekin Abstract: Child maltreatment, which includes both child abuse and child neglect, is a major social problem. This paper focuses on measuring the effects of child maltreatment on crime using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). We focus on crime because it is one of the most socially costly potential outcomes of maltreatment, and because the proposed mechanisms linking maltreatment and crime are relatively well elucidated in the literature. Our work addresses many limitations of the existing literature on child maltreatment. First, we use a large national sample, and investigate different types of abuse in a similar framework. Second, we pay careful attention to identifying the causal impact of abuse, by using

a variety of statistical methods that make differing assumptions. These methods include: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), propensity score matching estimators, and twin fixed effects. Finally, we examine the extent to which the effects of maltreatment vary with socioeconomic status (SES), gender, and the severity of the maltreatment. We find that maltreatment approximately doubles the probability of engaging in many types of crime. Low SES children are both more likely to be mistreated and suffer more damaging effects. Boys are at greater risk than girls, at least in terms of increased propensity to commit crime. Sexual abuse appears to have the largest negative effects, perhaps justifying the emphasis on this type of abuse in the literature. Finally, the probability of engaging in crime increases with the experience of multiple forms of maltreatment as well as the experience of Child Protective Services (CPS) investigation.

4.Childhood Victimization and Crime Victimization by Jared Kean McIntyre and Cathy Spatz Widom Abstract: The purpose of this study is to determine whether abused and neglected children are at increased risk for subsequent crime victimization. We ask four basic questions: (a) Does a history of child abuse/neglect increase ones risk of physical, sexual, and property crime victimization? (b) Do lifestyle characteristics (prostitution, running away, homelessness, criminal history, drug abuse, and alcohol abuse) increase a persons risk

for crime victimization? (c) Do lifestyle characteristics mediate the relationship between child abuse/ neglect and crime victimization? (d) Do these relationships vary by a persons sex or race/ethnicity? Using data from a prospective cohort design study, children with documented histories of physical and sexual abuse and/or neglect (n = 497) were matched with nonabused and nonneglected children ( n= 395), followed up, and interviewed in middle adulthood (approximate age 39.5). Logistic and ordinary least square regressions were conducted to assess risk for crime victimization and test for mediation. Child abuse and/ or neglect increased a persons risk for physical (OR = 2.56, p < .001) and sexual (OR = 2.28, p < .001) but not for property crime victimization. For the sample overall, running away served as a partial mediator between child abuse and neglect and physical and sexual crime victimization. In addition, results revealed sex and race/ethnicity differences in patterns of mediation. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.

5. The Relationship Between Child Sexual Abuse And Female Delinquency and Crime: A Prospective Study by Jane A. Siegel and Linda M. Williams Abstract Child sexual abuse has been hypothesized to be an especially significant factor in the etiology of girls delinquency and womens crime. This article reports on a prospective study of 206 women who, in the period from 1973 to 1975, were treated in a hospital emergency room in a major city following a report of sexual abuse. Their subsequent juvenile and adult criminal records were compared to a matched comparison group. Child sexual abuse was a statistically significant predictor of certain types of offenses, but other indicators of familial neglect and abuse were significant factors as well.