Violent Child Abuse On the Decline

A special report from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics finds that during 2010 roughly 2.8 million “children age 17 or younger… lived in a household in which at least one member age 12 or older experienced one or more nonfatal violent victimizations during the year.”  The data does not specify whether the child was present during the abuse or whether he was the victim of the attack, but it does provide insight into how diminished, yet still widespread, the issue violent crime against children is.  In 2010, 3.9% of children fell into the category of having lived in a household where violent child abuse took place, but this percentage has fallen over 68% since 1993, when approximately 8.7 million children, or 12.6%, lived in a household that experienced violent victimization.  Violent crimes occurred in low-income households (less than $15,000 a year) and in urban areas.  Additionally, households headed by one parent or a nonmarried adult were more prone to experiencing violent child victimization.

More Than 1 in 4 Fathers Live Apart From Their Children

Just in time for Father’s Day, the Pew Research Center released a study on children under the age of 18 living with their parents.  Since 1960, while the percentage of children living apart from their mothers has increased only marginally (from four to eight percent) the percentage of children living separately from their fathers has risen dramatically.  In 1960, 11% of children lived apart from their fathers, but in 2010, that figure has risen to more than 1 in 4 (27%).  Black and Hispanic fathers more likely to reside separately from their children at 44% and 35% respectively.  Educational attainment also plays a key role in predicting whether the father will live separately from the child, with only 7% of fathers with a college degree living apart from their children.  In the survey, 27% of fathers who live apart from their children say they had not seen their child once in the previous year, but 41% say they exchange calls and emails several times a week.

Almost 1 in 4 American Children in Poverty

Saki Knafo, writing for the Huffington Post, focuses on UNICEF’s recent report on child poverty in developed countries.  The report displays the shockingly high child poverty rate in the U.S., along with many other first world nations.  America’s child poverty rate stands at 23.1%, second only to Romania with 25.5%.  The rate was also marked at above 15% in Italy, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, and Japan.  The report does acknowledge that the term “relative child poverty,” which refers to a child living in a household that possesses a disposable income of less than half the national median income, does have its weaknesses.  The term is less effective when comparing rates between countries, but when taking each country into account separately, the relative child poverty is quite accurate.  Additionally, UNICEF calculates how social welfare programs affect the rate.  While Canada and the U.S. have the exact same child poverty rate before taxes and transfers (25.1%), when taking into account benefits from social welfare programs and taxes, the poverty rate in Canada drops drastically to 13.1%, whereas the rate in the U.S. falls only to 23.1%.