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Child Maltreatment and Juvenile Delinquency

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Running head: CHILD MALTREATMENT & JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 1

The Correlation Between Child Maltreatment & Juvenile Delinquency
April 6, 2014

CHILD MALTREATMENT & JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 2
Abstract
Research suggests that there is a correlation between child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency. The findings indicate that children, who have experienced abuse or neglect during childhood, are at increased risk of committing crimes in adolescence. A substantial number of children enter the juvenile justice system with a history of abuse, with approximately one third of these adolescence are actively associated with a child welfare agency at the time of their initial arrest. This paper attempts to establish a clear definition of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, as well as, neglect, while also reviewing a pattern of subsequent delinquency. The effects of racial, ethnic and gender differences in criminal behavior will be explored. A collaborated effort among youth serving agencies is discussed as a method of prevention of child maltreatment and future delinquency.

CHILD MALTREATMENT & JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 3

Juvenile delinquency is a serious public health concern. Throughout literature, child and adolescent maltreatment are consistently identified as powerful predictors of juvenile and adult crime. In 2009, law enforcement agencies arrested approximately 1.9 million persons under the age of 18 “ (Ryan, Williams, & Courtney, 2013, p.454). There is a long tradition of studying parenting, child relationships and adolescent delinquency; however the association between parent-child relationships and criminal offending during young adulthood is less understood (Johnson, Giordano, Manning, & Longmore, 2011, p.786). It is important to understand the correlation between the two in an effort to help find ways to provide resources

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