The
problem of child abuse is serious and real, but the solutions have been phony.
Child savers misstate the nature and extent of child abuse in America in order
to gain public support for phony solutions. A first step toward real solutions
is understanding what the numbers really mean.
The
most commonly-used number concerning child abuse is the number of children
investigated as possible abuse victims as a result of "reports" to state child
protection hotlines. According to
the most recent such survey, about three million children were the subjects of
these investigations.
But
more than two million of those children were subjects of reports that turned out
to be false.[1] And of the
rest, those labeled "substantiated" or "indicated" by protective workers,
relatively few are the kind that leap to mind when we hear the words "child
abuse. By far the largest category
was "neglect". Often, these are
cases in which the primary problem is a family's poverty. (See New Issue Papers 5 and 6).
In
fact, out of every 100 children investigated as possible victims of abuse, at
least 66 simply weren't - the report was false. 18 were "substantiated" victims
of neglect, 6 were victims of all forms of physical abuse, from the most minor
to the most severe, 3 were victims of sexual abuse and two were victims of
psychological maltreatment. The
rest fall into a category listed as "other." [2]
Widely-quoted
data from studies also sometimes are taken out of context. For example, Prevent Child Abuse
America, formerly the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse, declares
that a Denver study of sexual abuse allegations "found that only eight percent
of reports were false." [3]
In other literature, the figure from that study has been given as six percent.
(The difference depends on whether cases in which the researchers could make no
determination were included when percentages were
computed).
In
fact, whether one uses six percent or eight percent, that figure applies only to
malicious falsehoods. The researchers found that an additional 17 percent of the
reports were made in good faith but also turned out to be false. And in another
24 percent of the cases the researchers could not determine if the report was
true or not. [4] Thus, what
this study actually found was that at least 23 percent and possibly as many as
47 percent of all sexual abuse allegations are false. Furthermore, to be
considered true in this study, a report needed only to meet the standard used by
most child protective agencies -- that there be "some credible evidence" of
abuse, even if there is more evidence that there was no
abuse.
Some
numbers are repeated so often that people are surprised to find how little data
there are supporting them. Studies attempting to estimate the percentage of
people sexually abused during childhood have come up with results ranging from
one percent to 62 percent. [5] In addition, these studies
use widely varying definitions of abuse, and usually include abuse by anyone,
not just cases subject to the jurisdiction of child protective
services.
But
because large numbers attract more attention than small numbers, the claim
appears repeatedly that "one out of three girls and one out of ten boys will be
sexually abused" during childhood.
The
best evidence we have concerning the true prevalence of sexual abuse comes from
a review of 20 different studies conducted by seven Canadian researchers. They
found that the studies with the best methodology consistently found that between
10 and 12 percent of girls under age 14 are sexually abused by someone (not
necessarily a parent or guardian) during their childhoods. The study that
produced the "one out of three" claim was singled out for criticism by these
researchers. [6]
That
10 to 12 percent figure, like all of the best evidence concerning the true
extent of child abuse in America, is cause for concern and action. The real numbers are
bad enough. Exaggeration serves only to panic us into seeking "solutions" that
hurt the very children they were intended to help. More examples of the harm of
"erring on the side of the child" can be found in Issue Paper 5 and in Family Preservation Issue Paper
3.
1.
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Child Maltreatment 2001. Available
online at http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb/publications/cm01/ The document
refers to the largest category of cases as "unsubstantiated" but for reasons
discussed in the next issue paper, those cases are almost certainly false
reports.. Back to
Text.
2.
Ibid. Back to
Text.
3.
Jon R. Conte, A Look at Child Sexual Abuse (Chicago: Prevent Child Abuse
America) p.12. Back to
Text.
4.
David P.H. Jones and J. Melbourne McGraw, "Reliable and Fictitious Accounts of
Sexual Abuse to Children," Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol.2 No. 1,
March, 1987, pp.27-45. Back
to Text.
5.
These studies are cited in Diana Russell, The Secret Trauma: Incest in the Lives
of Girls and Women (New York: Basic Books, 1986), pp.72. Back to
Text.
6.
William Feldman et. al., "Is Childhood Sexual Abuse Really Increasing in
Prevalence?" An Analysis of the Evidence, Pediatrics, Vol. 88, No. 1, July,
1991, pp.29-33. Back to
Text.