How Does Child Abuse Effect Criminal Behavior?

2141 Words9 Pages

Abuse leaves victims damaged physically, mentally, and emotionally for years to come. Abuse is not a situation where once the initial abuse is over its over. The effects that abuse can have on a person can stick with a victim for years. Some of the effects of abuse are directly related to the kind of abuse the person endured, "Specific maltreatment types are related to subsequent antisocial development. For example, physical abusers has been found to be independently predictive of violent behavior" (Karstoft 1). While child abuse victims may not become an abusers themselves, victims still have a chance of becoming one. And even if victims don't become abusers, victims still can harbor other effects that can be traced back to the abuse. If …show more content…

For example, overall delinquency, violent delinquency, juvenile offending, and antisocial, aggressive, and violent criminal behaviors have been associated with childhood maltreatment (Karstoft 1).
Childhood maltreatment can lead to various types of criminal behavior. These people can become aggressive and that can lead to worse behavior like crime. The kids who are abused have a much greater chance of becoming a criminal than nonabused children. Earlier it was shown that the worse the abuse is the worse the outcome is for the child, "A 1985 study of all adolescents in the United States who were condemned murderers found that 13 had been victims of extreme physical or sexual abuse. In nine cases the abuse was so severe- characterized a 'murderous' by the researchers- that it lead to neurological damage" (Goleman 1). This shows that abuse as a child can cause a person to be violent in the future. The worse the abuse is the worse the consequences will be later in life. There is a body of evidence that shows a link between abuse and criminal activity, "One childhood factor that had been consistently associated with adolescent criminal behavior is childhood abuse" (Karstoft 1).While keeping in mind that child abuse is linked with criminal behavior, "A study of nine women imprisoned for fatal child abuse found that all of them had experienced severe maltreatment themselves" (Goleman 1). Someone who was abuse as a child or mistreated may be more likely to commit child abuse? as an adult. Child abuse and violent criminal activity or behavior are linked