ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 5 P.M. EST BJS SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 1996 202/307-0784 TWO-THIRDS OF SEX OFFENDERS IN STATE PRISONS HAD VICTIMIZED A CHILD FAMILY MEMBERS OR ACQUAINTANCES COMMIT MOST CHILD MURDERS WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Children younger than 18 were the victims in almost 20 percent of the violent crimes committed by state prisoners, according to a new Justice Department report released today. More than half of the child victims were 12 or younger. Thirteen percent of the violent prisoners raped or sexually molested children. Of all prisoners convicted of rape or sexual assault, two-thirds victimized children. Three out of four child victims were female. The study of a nationally representative sample of state prisoners serving time for violent crime in 1991 showed that offenders typically preyed on children they knew--not strangers. Eighty-eight percent had a prior relationship with their victims. In fact, almost one-third of the victims were the children or step-children of the assailant. The findings are based on inmate interviews in 277 prisons in 45 states conducted during 1991. The Survey of State Prison Inmates, the largest ever undertaken, involved about 14,000 inmates who had been sent to prison during 1991 or earlier. Among the estimated 61,000 offenders serving time in 1991 for violent crimes against victims younger than 18: --Almost 10 percent had been convicted of the murder or manslaughter of a child. --Fifteen percent had been convicted of forcible rape and 57 percent had been convicted of other types of sexual assault including statutory rape, lewd acts or forcible sodomy. --Approximately 10 percent had beaten or threatened their young victims. --About 30 percent reported they had attacked more than one child during the incident for which they were imprisoned. Prisoners convicted of attacking children were mostly male (97 percent) and were more likely to be white (almost 70 percent) and married or divorced (64 percent) than prisoners who had victimized those over 18. Child victimizers were, on average, five years older than those who had victimized adults. About 22 percent reported having been sexually abused themselves while growing up, compared to 6 percent of the violent offenders who preyed on adults. Victimizers of adults were about four times as likely as victimizers of children to report having carried a firearm during the crime. Three out of four prisoners who victimized a child reported the crime took place in their own home or in the victim's home. Prisoners who had victimized children had less extensive criminal histories than those inmates convicted of violent offenses against adults. Almost one-third of child victimizers were serving time following their first arrest, whereas less than 19 percent of those who victimized adults were first-time offenders. About one-fourth of the prisoners who victimized children had prior convictions for violent crimes, compared to about one-third of those who had victimized adults. Child Murders The study also examined individual Federal Bureau of Investigation records from 405,000 murders in the United States between 1976 and 1994, in 37,000 of which the victims were younger than 18 years old. In 1994 children accounted for 11 percent of the nation's 23,000 murder victims. The number of annual child murders nearly doubled between 1984 and 1993, from 1,463 to 2,841. There was a small decrease to 2,660 in 1994, but this was still higher than any other prior year. The increase in child murders occurred mostly among youths from 15 to 17 years old and was found among both white and African-American children. The murder rate among youth ages 15 to 17 has been growing rapidly. In 1984 there were 3.4 murders per 100,000 white children and 15.5 per 100,000 black children. By 1994 this had risen to 6.3 and 49.3 respectively. Most child murders in 1994 were at the hands of an acquaintance (38 percent), with family members accounting for 22 percent, strangers 7 percent and unknown offenders 30 percent. During 1994 almost one-half of all the murders of those under age 18 involved handguns. Ten years earlier, handguns were involved in one-quarter of such offenses. In 1994 about 70 percent of the murder victims aged 15 to 17 years old were killed with a handgun. Since the early 1980s, the average age of offenders using a handgun to kill a child has dropped from about 26 to 20, and the age of those who murdered victims from 15 to 17 years old dropped from 24 to 20. In those cases where the perpetrator of the murder was known to law enforcement, almost one-third of child murderers were under the age of 18. Among the almost 37,000 children murdered between 1976 and 1994, 66 percent of the children less than 1 year old and 58 percent of those from 1 to 4 years old were killed by beating with fists or blunt objects or by kicking. The data are contained in a report to the Congress prepared jointly by the Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to respond to a requirement of the National Child Protection Act of 1993. Single copies of the report, "Child Victimizers: Violent Offenders and their Victims" (NCJ-153258), which was written by BJS staff statistician Lawrence A. Greenfeld, may be obtained from the BJS Clearinghouse, Box 179, Annapolis Junction, Maryland 20701-0179. The telephone number is 1-800/732-3277. Fax orders to 1-410/792-4358. To get a free fax copy of the report dial 301/251-5550. BJS's home page address on the Internet is: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ # # # After hours contact: Stu Smith at 301/983-9354 END OF FILE