By Lawrence A. Greenfeld

BJS Statistician

Characteristics of offenses against children

An estimated 18.6% of inmates serving time in State

prisons in 1991 for violent crimes, or about 61,000 offenders nationwide, had been convicted of a crime against a

victim under age 18.

 1 in 5 violent offenders serving time in a State prison

reported having victimized a child.

 More than half the violent crimes committed against

children involved victims age 12 or younger.

 7 in 10 offenders

with child victims

reported that they

were imprisoned 

for a rape or sexual

assault.

 Two-thirds of all

prisoners convicted

of rape or sexual

assault had committed their crime

against a child.

Characteristics of

the offenders

 All but 3% of offenders who committed violent

crimes against children were male.

 Offenders who had victimized a child were on average

5 years older than the violent offenders who had committed their crimes against adults. Nearly 25% of child victimizers were age 40 or older, but about 10% of the

inmates with adult victims fell in that age range.

 While nearly 70% of those serving time for violent

crimes against children were white, whites accounted for

40% of those imprisoned for violent crimes against adults.

 Inmates who victimized children were less likely than

other inmates to have a prior criminal record  nearly a

third of child-victimizers had never been arrested prior to

the current offense, compared to less than 20% of those

who victimized adults.

U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistics 

Executive Summary

Jointly Published with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

______________________________________________________________________________________

Child Victimizers: Violent

Offenders and Their Victims

March 1996, NCJ-158625

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

All violent 

crimes

Murder Kidnaping Forcible

rape

Sexual

assault

Negligent Robbery Assault

manslaughter

Victims 12 or younger

Victims age 13 to 17 

Offense

Percent of violent State inmates

with victims under age 18 

19% of violent State prison inmates committed their crime against a child; 

78% of those convicted of sexual assault had abused a child
 Violent child-victimizers were

substantially more likely than

those with adult victims to have

been physically or sexually abused

when they were children, though

the majority of violent offenders,

regardless of victim age, did not

have a history of such abuse.

 

 About 14% of child victimizers

carried a weapon during the violent crime, compared to nearly half

of those who victimized adults.

 About 10% of violent offenders

with child victims received life or

death sentences and the average

prison term was 11 years, somewhat shorter average sentences

than received by those with adult

victims.

Characteristics of the victims

 3 in 10 child victimizers reported that they had committed

their crimes against multiple victims; they were more likely than

those who victimized adults to

have had multiple victims.

3 in 4 child victims of violence

were female.

 For the vast majority of child victimizers in State prison,

the victim was someone they knew before the crime: 

A third had committed their crime against their own

child

About half had a relationship with the victim as a friend,

acquaintance, or relative other than offspring

About 1 in 7 reported the victim to have been a

stranger to them.

 Three-quarters of the violent victimizations of children

took place in either the victim’s home or the offender’s

home.

 4 in 10 child victims of violence suffered either a forcible rape or another injury

 Source: BJS Survey of State 

 Prison Inmates, 1991

2 Child Victimizers: Violent Offenders and Their Victims  Executive Summary 

Offense distribution of State prisoners and 

percent of those prisoners with child victims, 1991

State prison inmates, by offense

Percent of all

prisoners serving

time for crimes

against children All prisoners Child victimizers

Offense Number Percent Number Percent

All offenses 711,643 100.0% 65,163 100.0% 9.2%

Violent offenses 327,958 46.1% 61,037 93.7% 18.6%

Homicide 87,479 12.3% 5,792 8.9% 6.6%

Murder 74,693 10.5 4,677 7.2 6.3

Negligent manslaughter 12,786 1.8 1,115 1.7 8.7

Kidnaping 8,369 1.2 1,508 2.3% 18.0%

Rape and sexual assault 66,482 9.3% 43,552 66.8% 65.5%

Forcible rape 22,797 3.2 8,908 13.7 39.1

Forcible sodomy 2,036 .3 1,741 2.7 85.5

Statutory rape 1,162 .2 1,102 1.7 94.8

Lewd acts with children 10,799 1.5 10,799 16.6 100.0

Other sexual assault 29,688 4.2 21,002 32.2 70.7

Robbery 104,136 14.6 3,772 5.8% 3.6%

Assault 59,275 8.3% 6,058 9.3% 10.2%

Aggravated assault 55,549 7.8 3,933 6.0 7.1

Child abuse 1,717 .2 1,717 2.6 100.0

SImple assault 2,009 .3 408 .6 20.3

Other violent 2,217 .3% 355 .5% 16.0%

Nonviolent offenses 383,685 53.9% 4,126 6.3% 1.1%

Note: Aggravated assault includes assault on a police officer. The victim-offender 

relationship was generally asked for those offenders serving time for violence. However, 

some offenders serving time for the public-order crimes involving offenses against 

morals and decency reported that their victims had been children. Detail may not add 

to totals because of rounding.
Child murder victims

 Children under the age of 18 accounted for 11% of

all murder victims in the United States in 1994. Nearly

half of the 2,660 child victims were between ages 15

and 17. About 1 in 5 child victims were known to be

killed by another child. 

 Between 1976 and 1994 an estimated 37,000 children were murdered.

 

 Since the mid-1980's the increases in both the number and the rate of murder among 15- to 17-year-olds,

and particularly among black youth in this age range,

have outpaced changes in murder in all other age

groups.

 The victim-offender relationship in child murder varies with the age of the victim: In most murders of a

young child, a family member killed the child, while in

most murders of an older child, age 15 to 17, the perpetrator was an acquaintance to the victim or was unknown to law enforcement authorities. About 1 in 5

child murders were committed by a family member.

 Data for the period from 1976 to 1994 indicate that in

family murder of a child about 10% of victims were age 15

to 17, while in murders by strangers about 67% of victims

were in this age category:

 Half of all child murders in 1994 were committed with a

handgun; about 7 in 10 victims age 15 to 17 were killed

with a handgun.

 Source: FBI Supplementary

Homicide Reports, 1976-94

Child Victimizers: Violent Offenders and Their Victims  Executive Summary 3

Number of murders 

of victims under age 18

0

300

600

900

1,200

1,500

Age 15-17

5-14

1-4

Younger than 1 year

1976 1982 1994 1988

Victims age 15 to 17, both white and black, accounted 

for almost all the increase in child murders, 1976-94

Age 12 or younger

13-15

16-17

18-19

20-29

30-39

40-49

50 or older

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Age of offender

Children under age 18 were 

responsible for nearly 30% 

of murders of children in 1994

Note: Excludes 749 child murder cases

in which the offender was unknown 

(from a total of 2,660 cases).

Percent of murders of victims 

under the age of 18, 1994

Victim-offender relationship, 1976-94

Age of child victim Family Acquaintance Stranger Unknown

Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

Less than 1 year 31.2 4.8 1.4 6.9

1-4 36.3 17.0 6.4 9.9

5-14 22.6 20.6 25.0 21.0

15-17 9.9 57.6 67.3 62.3

Total number 10,795 13,060 4,006 9,092
Bureau of Justice Statistics Clearinghouse

P.O. Box 179, Dept. BJS

Annapolis Junction MD 20701-0179

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To: Catherine Doyle and Eileen Garry

From: Marilyn Marbrook, 2/6/96

Attached is a new draft of the Child Victimizers Executive Summary.

The full report is 27 pages plus 4 pages of front matter, back matter, and

covers. Cheryll and Kris have recommended that we print:

25,000 full reports, 10,000 for BJS and 15,000 for OJJDP

 vellum cover slick cover to match JJ green

cost to OJJDP: $3,823 $5,021

cost to BJS: 2,210 2,983

total: $6,033 $8,004

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cost to OJJDP: $ 403

cost to BJS: 1,335

total: $1,738

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Victim-offender relationship among prisoners serving 

time for violence against children, 1991

 

Number

of State

prison

inmates

Percent of State prison inmates serving time for a

violent crime, by relationship to their child victim

Single-victim incident Stranger

Own 

childa

Other

family

Acquaintance Intimateb

Total 42,616 14.6% 32.1% 11.1% 38.4% 3.8%

Homicide 3,545 29.5% 23.3% 8.2% 37.4% 1.6%

Murder 2,906 29.1 23.3 9.3 38.3 0 

Negligent manslaughter 639 31.5 23.3 2.8 33.7 8.7

Kidnaping 1,153 55.5% 7.1% 7.5% 16.8% 13.1%

Rape and sexual assault 32,923 9.9% 33.4% 12.5% 40.1% 4.1%

Forcible rape 7,099 11.9 36.2 8.9 36.9 6.0

Forcible sodomy 1,303 4.3 35.9 27.9 22.2 9.6

Statutory rape 878 0 27.9 0 72.1 0 

Lewd acts with children 7,136 6.9 31.9 17.9 40.8 2.6

Other sexual assault 16,507 11.3 32.9 11.2 40.9 3.6

Robbery 811 55.3% 8.4% 6.5% 22.6% 7.3%

Assault 3,895 20.3% 39.1% 4.6% 35.9% 0 

Aggravated assault 2,253 29.8 25.7 5.4 39.1 0 

Child abuse 1,390 4.3 63.9 4.3 27.5 0 

Simple assault 252 -- -- -- -- -- 

Other violent 288 -- -- -- -- -- 

Note: This table is based on prisoners who reported having a single

victim.

--Too few sample cases for an accurate estimate.

a

Includes stepchildren.

b

Boyfriend or girlfriend.