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Maltreatment‐Related Fatalities: Issues of Policy and Prevention *
Author(s) -
LEVINE MURRAY,
FREEMAN JENNIFER,
COMPAAN CHERYL
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
law and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.534
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-9930
pISSN - 0265-8240
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9930.1994.tb00133.x
Subject(s) - neglect , child abuse , psychology , suicide prevention , injury prevention , poison control , psychiatry , medicine , environmental health
Maltreatment‐related child fatalities, despite their relatively infrequent occurrence, constitute a serious social problem. Based on a review of national and unpublished state and local child fatality review team reports, we ascertained some risk factors that set parameters for prevention programs. Children under age four, and in particular those under age two, are at highest risk for maltreatment‐related fatalities. Neglect‐related deaths occur almost as often as abuse‐related ones. Unrelieved crying and toilet training problems are “triggers” for assaults on young children. Males are frequently involved in abuse‐related fatalities. People in their mid‐twenties, rather than teenage parents are the most frequent perpetrators. About a third of maltreatment‐related fatalities were known to child protective services. Implications of these findings, as well as the problem of predicting infrequently occurring events, are discussed in relation to programs of prevention.