Understanding Child Maltreatment and Juvenile Delinquency: The ...

Part 1
Understanding Child
Maltreatment and Juvenile
Delinquency: The Research
Cathy Spatz Widom, PhD
Over the past 20 years, child maltreatment researchers and
practitioners,1 as well as those in the field of criminal jus-
tice, have been increasingly concerned about the long-
term negative consequences of child abuse and neglect and the
increased likelihood of abused and neglected youth to be involved
in the juvenile justice system.2 Although no single factor by itself
is likely to account for the development of criminal behavior, the
importance of childhood victimization as a risk factor for subse-
quent delinquency and violence has become increasingly recognized.
Research on the Relationship Between Child
Maltreatment and Juvenile Delinquency
Several early reviews of studies examining the relationship be-
tween child maltreatment and delinquency3,4,5 concluded that
knowledge abut this relationship was limited because of meth-
odological problems inherent in prior studies, including reliance
on retrospective designs and lack of control or comparison groups
of nonabused and non-neglected children. In addition, early find-
ings on the relationship between child maltreatment and violent
criminal behavior were sometimes contradictory. More recent
1

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Understanding Child Maltreatment and Juvenile Delinquency
research has begun to overcome many of the methodological prob-
lems of earlier research and shows the importance of childhood
victimization as a risk factor for subsequent delinquency and vio-
lence.
Childhood Maltreatment and Juvenile Crime
Four prospective investigations in different parts of the United
States documented a relationship between childhood victimiza-
tion and some form of delinquent behavior. In the first study, the
researcher followed children who had been abused and/or ne-
glected approximately 25 years earlier through an examination
of official criminal records, then compared them with a matched
control group of children of the same age, sex, race, and approxi-
mate social class.6 The author conducted this research in a metro-
politan county in the Midwest using cases of child abuse and
neglect that came to the attention of the courts from 1967 through
1971. An assessment of criminal behavior when these individu-
als were approximately 33 years old7 found that early child abuse
and neglect increased the risk* of arrest as a juvenile by 55% and
increased the risk of being arrested for a violent crime as a juve-
nile by 96% (see Table 1).
The Midwest study8 also found that child abuse and neglect
was associated with earlier onset of juvenile crime. Abused and
neglected children were first arrested about a year earlier than
their matched nonabused and non-neglected peers and were more
likely to become recidivists and chronic offenders (see Table 2).
As part of the Rochester Youth Development Study, Smith
and Thornberry9 collected information on child abuse and ne-
glect for their cohort of youth in upstate New York from the De-
partment of Social Services in Rochester (see Table 3). They ex-
* Relative risk in these tables represents the ratio of two probabilities and indicates
differences in risk of a certain outcome for different groups of subjects. Here, the
relative risk refers to the likelihood of arrest for the abuse and neglect group compared
with the likelihood of arrest for the control group.

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TABLE 1
Childhood Abuse and Neglect and Juvenile Crime (Midwest) (in percentages)
Abuse/Neglect
Control
Type of Juvenile Arrest
(n = 908)
(n = 667)
Relative Risk
Any Arrest
21.6
13.9***
55
Property
14.6
9.1***
60
Order
7.9
4.6**
72
Violence
5.3
2.7**
96
Source: Adapted from Widom, C. S. (2002). [Arrests before age 18]. Unpublished
raw data.
Note: All subjects were at least 18 years old at the time of data collection. Excludes
status offenses.
**p < .01. ***p < .001.
tended prior research by comparing official arrest records to
youths’ self-reports. Despite differences in geographic region, time
period, and assessment technique, the findings from the Roches-
ter youth study confirmed a significant relationship between child
maltreatment and delinquency (self-reported and official). These
youth were approximately 17 years old at the time of the study
and, thus, information on adult criminal behavior was not yet
available.
A third geographic area provided the basis for another test of
the childhood victimization/delinquency relationship. Using
maltreated children and two nonmaltreated comparison samples
from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, a 1993 study10 found
that maltreated children (approximately age 15) had higher rates
of delinquency complaints than nonmaltreated schoolchildren
and impoverished children (see Table 4). Compared with the
school sample, the maltreated youth had a higher rate of delin-
quency complaints for violence as well. Effect size was dimin-
ished when the authors controlled for demographic and family
structure variables.
The fourth study,11 which was designed as a replication and
extension of Widom’s original study, was based on a cohort of
abused and neglected children from a different geographic re-

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Understanding Child Maltreatment and Juvenile Delinquency
TABLE 2
Characteristics of Offending (Midwest)
Abuse/Neglect Control
Age of Onset (in Years)
18.1
19.2**
Average Number of Arrests
6.9
4.7**
Recidivists (%) (2–4 Arrests)
17.1
12.7***
Chronic Offenders (%) (5 or More)
19.8
12.3***
**p < .01. ***p < .001.
gion of the country (the Northwest), different time period (1980–
1985), and different ethnic background (including Native Ameri-
cans in addition to whites and African Americans) (see Table 5).
The researchers selected substantiated cases of child abuse and/
or neglect from court dependency records in a large urban area
of Washington State. They identified a matched control group of
children on the basis of age, race/ethnicity, gender, and approxi-
mate family social class. The dependent children in the North-
west study represent a subset of abused and neglected children,
whose cases were substantiated and for whom there was suffi-
cient evidence to remove the children from the home. Abused
and neglected children were 4.8 times more likely to be arrested
as juveniles and 11 times more likely to be arrested for a violent
crime than the matched controls.12
Despite differences in geographic region, time period, youths’
ages, definition of child maltreatment, and assessment technique,
these four prospective investigations all provide evidence for the
connection between child maltreatment and subsequent crime
and delinquency. These types of replications provide an oppor-
tunity to advance scientific knowledge. When results from stud-
ies with different subject samples, time periods, and geographic
areas converge, this increases confidence in the generalizability
of the findings.
The findings from these four studies also reveal that these
relationships are not inevitable or deterministic. Childhood abuse

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TABLE 3
Childhood Maltreatment and Adolescent Delinquency (Rochester, New York)
Maltreated
Not Maltreated
Delinquency
n
%
n
%
Official
136
45.1
864
31.7*
Self-Report
125
764
Serious
42.4
32.7*
Moderate
71.3
55.6*
Minor
45.3
37.2*
Violent
69.6
56.0*
Source: Adapted from Smith, C., & Thornberry, T. P. (1995). The relationship
between childhood maltreatment and adolescent involvement in delinquency.
Criminology, 33, 451–481.
*p < .05.
and neglect are associated with a demonstrated increased risk of
crime and violence, but this relationship is not inevitable. This
means that all abused and neglected children do not become de-
linquent. This result is especially important for policymakers and
practitioners so as to avoid damaging self-fulfilling prophecies.
The Cycle of Violence
Another issue addressed by these investigators is the extent to
which children who experience violence in childhood (i.e., those
physically abused) will progress to become perpetrators of vio-
lence when they grow up. According to a strict interpretation of
the “cycle of violence” hypothesis,13 one would expect that chil-
dren who were physically abused, in contrast to other forms of
child abuse or neglect, would have the highest risk of arrest for
violent criminal behavior. That is, being the direct victim of vio-
lence as a child is thought to provide a model for the child to
learn, imitate, and act in a violent manner when the child grows
up.
Both the Midwestern14 and Northwestern15 authors analyzed
their findings by looking at arrest rates as a function of the type

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Understanding Child Maltreatment and Juvenile Delinquency
TABLE 4
Child Maltreatment and Youthful Problem Behaviors (Mecklenburg County,
North Carolina) (in percentages by sample)
Maltreatment
School
Poverty
(281)
(177)
(633)
Any Complaint
13.7
9.0
5.3
Status
8.2
3.4
1.8
Property
6.3
5.1
3.2
Violent
3.3
2.3
0.7
Source: Adapted from Zingraff, M. T., Leiter, J., Myers, K. A., & Johnsen, M. C.
(1993). Child maltreatment and youthful problem behavior. Criminology, 31, 173–
202.
of abuse or neglect. In these studies, physical abuse was associ-
ated with the highest risk of arrest for subsequent violence, but
neglect was also found to be related to violence.
In the Midwestern study, Widom16 reported that physical
abuse was associated with the highest risk of arrest for violent
crime, but neglected children were also at higher risk compared
with matched controls. Looking beyond delinquency and into
young adulthood, Maxfield and Widom17 reported that rates of
arrest for violent crime were 21% for physically abused children
and 20% for neglected children, compared with 14% for matched
controls.
The Northwestern findings replicated the earlier work and
revealed that children who were physically abused and neglected
are at increased risk of arrest for violence. However, these find-
ings also extended the earlier work by examining the risk of ar-
rest for a violent crime for children who had experienced emo-
tional maltreatment. Nearly one-third of the children experiencing
physical abuse, neglect, and emotional maltreatment were ar-
rested for a violent crime (30.3%, 31.3%, and 32.1%, respectively).
Of the children who experienced multiple types of child maltreat-
ment, 23.9% had an arrest for a violent crime, whereas the com-
parison group children had the lowest rates of arrest.

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TABLE 5
Child Abuse and Neglect and Delinquency (Northwest) (in percentages)
Type of Juvenile Arrest
Abuse/Neglect
Control
Relative Risk
Any Arrest
19.6
4.1***
4.78
Property
13.6
2.7***
5.04
Order
22.1
8.3
Violence
8.8
0.8***
11.00
N = 877
***p < .001.
These two prospective investigations, with different groups
of abused and neglected children from different time periods and
geographic regions, reveal that experiencing violence as a child
leads to increased risk of being arrested for a violent crime. How-
ever, these results also make clear that childhood neglect and emo-
tional maltreatment are associated with violence as well.
Other Consequences
Although much attention has been focused on the relationship
between child maltreatment and subsequent delinquency and
violence, there is also increasing evidence that childhood victim-
ization has the potential to affect multiple domains of function-
ing.18 In a series of articles on other aspects of functioning influ-
enced by childhood victimization, Widom and colleagues have
reported on other outcomes for which abused and neglected chil-
dren are at increased risk. Some of these other consequences in-
clude: mental health problems, such as posttraumatic stress dis-
order,19 suicide attempts,20 and alcohol problems in women21; social
and behavioral problems, including running away,22 prostitution,23
and lower rates of employment24; and cognitive and intellectual
functioning, including lower reading ability and IQ scores in
young adulthood.25
Thus, the consequences of childhood abuse and neglect have
the potential to affect a child’s ability to interact with the world

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Understanding Child Maltreatment and Juvenile Delinquency
across multiple domains of functioning. Although there is a group
of abused and neglected children who appear resilient to the nega-
tive outcomes discussed in these research findings,26 the clear
implication of these findings is that there is a need for early inter-
vention in the lives of abused and neglected children.
Implications
Educators, social workers, health care workers, mental health
practitioners, law enforcement officers, and other youth-serving
professionals need to recognize the signs of abuse and neglect
and intervene early in the lives of these children. Later interven-
tions should not be ignored. The more time that passes without
helpful and positive intervention efforts, however, the more dif-
ficult the change process becomes.
Although it is important to identify abused and neglected
children early, it is also critical to be sensitive to the potential
negative effects of increased attention and surveillance. This at-
tention may represent a double-edged sword, in which children
become labeled or are expected to become delinquent. Great care
must be taken to prevent this early identification from becoming
a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Although these findings support the notion of a cycle of vio-
lence, they also reinforce the need to pay attention to neglect.
That is, these results indicate that children who are neglected, in
addition to those who are physically abused, are at high risk for
crime and violence. This is especially important given that ne-
glect is far more common than other forms of abuse in nation-
wide estimates. For example, one source placed 1988 incidence
rates at 14.6 per 1,000 children for neglect compared with 4.9 and
2.1 for physical and sexual abuse, respectively.27
In Part 2, this monograph will chronicle an array of program-
matic responses, from prevention of child abuse and neglect, to
effective interventions in the juvenile justice system, to broader
systemic reform, that have been developed to achieve better out-
comes in behalf of children, youth, and families in these areas.

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Endnotes
1. Cicchetti, D., Toth, S. L., & Lynch, M. (1993). The developmental sequelae of child
maltreatment: Implications for war-related trauma. In L. A. Leavitt & N. A. Fox (Eds.),
The psychological effects of war and violence on children. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
2. Maxfield, M. G., & Widom, C. S. (1996). The cycle of violence: Revisited six years
later. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 150, 390–395.
3. Garbarino, J., & Plantz, M. (1986). Child abuse and juvenile delinquency: What are
the links? In J. Garbarino, C. Schellenbach, & J. Sebes (Eds.), Troubled youth, troubled
families (pp. 27–39). New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
4.Gray, E.
(1986) Child abuse: Prelude to delinquency? (Findings of a research conference
conducted by the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse). Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
5. Widom, C. S. (1989). Does violence beget violence? A critical examination of the lit-
erature. Psychological Bulletin, 106(1), 3-28.
6. Widom, C. S. (1989). The cycle of violence. Science, 244, 160–166.
7.Maxfield & Widom, 1996.
8.Maxfield & Widom, 1996; Widom, 1989, The cycle of violence.
9. Smith, C., & Thornberry, T. P. (1995). The relationship between childhood maltreat-
ment and adolescent involvement in delinquency. Criminology, 33, 451–481.
10. Zingraff, M. T., Leiter, J., Myers, K. A., & Johnsen, M. C. (1993). Child maltreatment
and youthful problem behavior. Criminology, 31, 173–202.
11. English, D. J., Widom, C. S., & Brandford, C. (2002). Childhood victimization and delin-
quency, adult criminality, and violent criminal behavior: A replication and extension. Final
report presented to the National Institute of Justice, Grant No. 97-IJ-CX-0017.
12.English et al., 2002.
13.Widom, 1989, Does violence beget violence?
14.Maxfield & Widom, 1996; Widom, 1989, The cycle of violence.
15.English et al., 2002.

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16.Maxfield & Widom, 1996; Widom, 1989, The cycle of violence.
17.Maxfield & Widom, 1996.
18. Widom, C. S. (2000). Understanding the consequences for childhood victimization.
In M. D. Robert & M. Reese (Eds.), Treatment of child abuse (pp. 339–361). Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press.
19. Widom, C. S. (1999). Posttraumatic stress disorder in abused and neglected children
grown up. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 1223–1229.
20. Widom, C. S. (1998). Childhood victimization: Early adversity and subsequent psy-
chopathology. In B. P. Dohrenwend (Ed.), Adversity, stress, and psychopathology (pp.
81–95). New York: Oxford University Press.
21. Widom, C. S., Ireland, T., & Glynn, P. J. (1995). Alcohol abuse in abused and ne-
glected children followed-up: Are they at increased risk? Journal of Studies on Alcohol,
56, 207–217.
22. Kaufman, J. G., & Widom, C. S. (1999). Childhood victimization, running away, and
delinquency. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 36, 347–370.
23. Widom, C. S., & Kuhns, J. B. (1996). Childhood victimization and subsequent risk for
promiscuity, prostitution, and teenage pregnancy: A prospective study. American Jour-
nal of Public Health, 86, 1607–1612.
24.Widom, 1998.
25. Perez, C., & Widom, C. S. (1994). Childhood victimization and longterm intellectual
and academic outcomes. Child Abuse & Neglect, 18(8), 617–633.
26. Mcgloin, J. M., & Widom, C. S. (2001). Resilience among abused and neglected chil-
dren grown up. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 1021–1038.
27. Sedlak, A. J. (1990). Technical amendments to the study findings—National Incidence
and Prevalence of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-2) 1988. Washington, DC: U. S.
Department of Health and Human Services.

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