New research reveals that nearly half of American kids suffer violence in real time, not just in shoot-em-up movies, video games, or television shows.
“Children are the most victimized segment of the population,” said the study’s major contributor David Finkelhor of the Crimes Against Children Research Center in the state of New Hampshire.
Finkelhor’s group conducted phone surveys to reach the startling conclusion that, whether it’s through chronic domestic abuse or school shootings, the nation is failing to protect its most vulnerable citizens.
Worse, the alarming rate that youngsters are being subjected to brutal acts in their homes, neighborhoods, schoolyards, playgrounds, and a host of other places, is a matter largely ignored by government agencies charged with collecting and crunching that data.
“The full burden of this tends to be missed because many national crime indicators either do not include the experience of all children, or don’t look at the big picture and include all the kinds of violence to which children are exposed,” Finkelhor told Reuters Health.
He added that, while incidences of brutality against minors in the U.S. has not escalated since the last ‘National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence’ study was published in 2011, the crisis is not showing any signs of abating either.
And, per previous years’ findings, it’s still family members who account for the highest percent of offenders exposing juveniles to violence on a regular basis, their various crimes ranging from sexual abuse to physical assault, and even routine neglect.
So why should we care that almost half of American kids suffer violence if we’re not parents ourselves or abusive?
Because “violence and abuse in childhood are big drivers behind many of our most serious health and social problems,” explained Finkelhor. “They are associated with later drug abuse, suicide, criminal behavior, mental illness, and chronic disease like diabetes.”
