Gender Stereotypes Of Child Victimization

The purpose of this research paper is to discuss the topic of child victimization, especially the area concerning the gender demographics of both the offenders and victims in the situations of child neglect, child abuse that leads to death, and missing children. It is a common misconception that the biggest threat to our nation’s children lurk in the dark alleyways of cities; as this research paper will point out though, the stereotypical “stranger in a large coat and hat” makes up for only a small percentage of child victimizations. The vast majority of crimes against children are going to take place in the home or by those whom the child knows. But is the distribution of crime even from mother to father, aunt to uncle, or even the victims,

As for the demographics of the most commonly maltreated children, the stats from the same source of Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics (2007) found the following: boys and girls run a very similar risk of being victimized, with the difference among the genders being less than 4%; the most commonly victimized age group were the youngest (those being 3 years old or younger), with a frequency of 1.65% of all children in the US; white children accounted for almost half of all incidents of maltreatment, while black children, Hispanic, and Native Americans filled out most of the other half, respectively; and finally, 8% of all maltreated children were found to have some form of disability, making this group one of the most abused, at a rate nearly double all other children. Generally, crimes have rather clear distinctions between the genders of who is effected by them. Perhaps since children, male and female both, are helpless, the physical differences in the genders cannot come into

In volume 26 of Violence and Victims, the Finnish Child Victim Survey found that only 1% to 3% of violence was reported to the police depending on the assault (Kuoppamäki, Kääriäinen, & Ellonen, 2011). This is a much lower number than what would be found in the United States, but it sheds some light on the other cultures found throughout the world and just how we stack up. For the sake of discussion on this issue though, it is worth mentioning that in the United States, the NCVS found that only 28% of violent crimes against juveniles aged 12 to 17 are reported (Kuoppamäki, et al., 2011).

So how is this information relevant? The purpose of stating these findings is simple: the issue of not reporting crimes against children is much more common than not reporting crimes against adults. Because of this, while the statistics on the genders of the offenders and the victims in this case may be available, they may not be as accurate as those found in the adult criminal justice