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Child Maltreatment Histories Among Runaway and Delinquent ChildrenBoston Juvenile Court; Department of Pediatrics, Franciscan Children's Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, The Children's Hospital, Boston, Harvard Medical School
The Boston Juvenile Court, Massachusetts Dept. of Mental Health, Department of Pediatrics, Franciscan Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Staff Social Worker, Boston Juvenile Court, Massachusetts Dept. of Mental Health, Boston, MA The records of 378 children presenting to a juvenile court were reviewed for histories of child maltreatment, based on evidence from a formal investigative process by the Department of Social Services. The children came from two groups: delinquents, who had engaged in criminal activity, and status offenders, whose legal involvement was due to non-criminal behavior, such as running away and truancy. Fifty-five percent of the status offenders and 45% of the delinquents had substantiated histories of maltreatment. The percent of status offenders who had been sexually abused was seven times higher among runaways (35%) than among the other members of the group (5%). The percent of delinquents who had been physically maltreated was significantly greater among those convicted of committing violent crimes (27%) than among the non-violent delinquents (14%). Thus, maltreatment may contribute significantly to delinquent behavior.
Clinical Pediatrics, Vol. 29, No. 12,
713-718 (1990) This article has been cited by other articles:
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