Chapter 4
Perpetrators
Child Maltreatment 2000
Perpetrators of child maltreatment are the persons responsible for a child's well-being, such as the parents or caretakers, who have abused or neglected the child. "Caretakers" typically include those persons who are responsible for the supervision of a child e.g. grandparents, babysitters, and daycare workers.
Based on case-specific data, perpetrators are described from two perspectives.1 The first uses the perpetrator as the unit of analysis; the second considers the maltreated child as the unit of analysis.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PERPETRATORS (DCDC or Child File)
For 2000, the majority of perpetrators were women (59.9%), and men accounted for 40.1 percent of perpetrators.2 Female perpetrators were typically younger than male perpetrators. Of female perpetrators, 41.9 percent were less than 30 years of age compared to 31.6 percent of male perpetrators (figure 4-1). The median age of perpetrators for men was 34 years; the median age for women was 31 years.
"Parents" accounted for 78.8 percent of perpetrators. "Other relatives" accounted for 8.5 percent of perpetrators.3
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CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTIMS IN RELATION TO THEIR PERPETRATORS (DCDC or Child File)
In order to establish whether perpetrators act alone or in concert with others, the data were examined from the perspective of the victim. In these analyses new categories of relationship were constructed-namely, "Mother Only," "Father Only," "Both Parents," and other relationship combinations.4
A "Mother Only" was reported as the perpetrator for 40.0 percent of child victims (figure 4-2). A "Father Only" accounted for 16.6 percent of victims, and "Both Parents" accounted for 18.7 percent. At least one parent was the perpetrator for 83.3 percent of victims. These percentages were similar to those in 1999.
A "Mother Only" was most commonly found to be responsible for neglect (46.9% of victims) and for physical abuse (32.1% of victims).5 "Father Only" and "Other Relatives" were responsible for 21.5 percent and 19.4 percent of sexual abuse victims, respectively. "Other" perpetrators were responsible for 24.9 percent of sexual abuse victims (figure 4-3).
Almost 90 percent (89.4%) of neglect victims and 81.5 percent of physical abuse victims-but only 45.3 percent of sexual abuse victims-were abused by their parents.
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SUPPLEMENTARY TABLES
The following pages contain the tables referenced in Chapter 4. Unless otherwise explained, a blank indicates that the State did not submit useable data and a number in bold indicates either a total or an estimate.
Chapter Four: Figures and Tables
Notes
1 Four criteria
were used in order to determine whether to include a State's
perpetrator data in each analysis. For analyses on relationship,
States would be excluded if fewer than 25 percent of perpetrators
had relationship data or less than 50 percent of perpetrators were
coded as "parent." For analyses on age or sex, States would be
excluded if fewer than 75 percent of perpetrators had age data; or
fewer than 75 percent of perpetrators had sex data. When these
tests were applied, several States were excluded from analyses that
included relationship data. No States were excluded due to not
meeting the age or sex criteria. Back
2 Supporting data
are provided in supplementary table 4-1,
which is located at the end of this chapter. Back
3 See
supplementary table 4-2. Back
4 In this report,
the terms "Mother" and "Father" include biological parent, adoptive
parent, and stepparent. These terms are generated from codes
indicating the perpetrator's sex (male or female) and relationship
to the child (parent). In tables, figures, and technical notes the
terms "Female Parent Acting Alone" and "Male Parent Acting Alone"
are used. Back
5 See supplementary
table 4-4. Back
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