Thirty-year Follow-up of the Cycle of Violence

The purpose of this basic research project is to conduct a 30 year follow-up of criminal histories for the large sample of abused and/or neglected children and matched controls that were part of an original NIJ-funded study in an attempt to further understand the life-course of criminal behavior in these individuals who have now reached middle adulthood. Criminal history information (arrests) for these individuals was last collected in 1994 when these people were approximately 32 years old. In 2012, the mean age of the sample will be 49.1 (SD = 3.6). There are four major goals: (1) To determine whether individuals with documented histories of child abuse and/or neglect are more likely to be arrested for partner (or domestic) violence, compared to matched controls; (2) To determine whether individuals with histories of child abuse and/or neglect are more likely to be arrested for crimes against children (e.g., physical abuse, sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, and threats of physical harm), compared to matched controls; (3)To determine whether individuals with documented histories of childhood sexual abuse are more likely to be arrested for sex crimes when followed up into middle adulthood, compared to matched controls; and (4) To determine whether individuals with documented histories of child abuse and/or neglect are more likely to offend, and to continue offending, in adulthood, compared to matched controls. This research project utilizes a cohort design in which 908 physically and sexually abused and neglected children (ages 0-11 between 1967 and 1971, males and females, 2/3 White, 1/3 African American) were matched with 667 non-abused and non neglected children and followed prospectively. The current study will conduct a criminal history search using the FBI National Crime Information Service to obtain arrest and conviction data on partner violence and child abuse and will obtain information on sex offenses from public sex offender websites. This study's findings will have clear implications for developing programs to break the cycle of violence based on empirical evidence and will be used by policy makers and economists to calculate long-term costs associated with the consequences of childhood maltreatment. ca/ncf