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Home > Statistics & Research > Child Maltreatment 2004 > Chapter Five

Chapter 5
Perpetrators
Child Maltreatment 2004

Most perpetrators of child maltreatment are caregivers who have been found to have abused or neglected a child. In most cases, the perpetrator is a parent who is responsible for the child's wellbeing. Nonparental caregivers include persons who are responsible for the supervision of a child, e.g., other relatives, foster parents, or residential facility staff.

Characteristics of Perpetrators

For 2004, 57.8 percent of the perpetrators were women and 42.2 percent were men.¹ Female perpetrators were typically younger than male perpetrators. The median age of perpetrators was 31 years for women and 34 years for men. Of the women who were perpetrators, more than 40 percent (44.4%) were younger than 30 years of age, compared with one-third of the men (34.1%) (figure 5-1).

Nearly 80 percent (78.5 %) of perpetrators were parents (figure 5-2). Other relatives accounted for an additional 6.5 percent. Unmarried partners of parents accounted for 4.1 percent.²

Based on data from 40 States, more than 90 percent (91.9%) of parental perpetrators were biological parents, 4.5 percent were stepparents, and 0.6 percent were adoptive parents.³

More than one-half (57.9%) of all perpetrators were found to have neglected one or more children.⁴ Slightly more than 10 percent (10.3%) of perpetrators physically abused children, and 6.9 percent sexually abused children. Fifteen percent (15.5%) of all perpetrators were associated with more than one type of maltreatment.

There were variations in these overall patterns when the relationship of perpetrator to the child victim was considered. Of the parents who maltreated children, less than 3 percent (2.6%) committed sexual abuse, while 62.9 percent committed neglect. Of the perpetrators who were friends or neighbors, nearly three-quarters committed sexual abuse while 9.9 percent committed neglect (figure 5-3).

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Tables and Notes

The following pages contain the data tables referenced in Chapter 5. Unless otherwise explained, a blank indicates that the State did not submit usable data. Specific information about State submissions can be found in appendix D. Additional information regarding methodologies that were used to create the tables is provided below.

Table 5-1

• Percentages are based on only those perpetrators for whom the age and sex were provided. A perpetrator was counted for each child victim for each report.

Table 5-2

• States that did not provide data on the relationship of perpetrators to victims were excluded from this analysis.

Table 5-3

• States that did not provide data on type of parent, including those States where the parental type was more than 90 percent unknown, were excluded from this analysis.

Table 5-4

• The category of neglect includes medical neglect.
• The category of multiple maltreatment types includes a combination of any two or more types of maltreatment.

Chapter Five: Tables and Figures

Notes

¹ Supporting data are provided in table 5-1, which is located at the end of this chapter. back
² See table 5-2. back
³ See table 5-3. back
⁴ See table 5-4. back

 

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