1.98 H Court and the Legal System—Family Foihave such experiences associated with where they reside and with whom they live.
Children who have risk factors in their lives such as domestic violence, parental
substance abuse, and living in poverty are certainly at an increased risk for exposure
to trauma and violence. Children can experience such violence within a number
of different contexts; however, it is likely that the family, and especially a child s
relationship with caregivers, is one of the most important of these contexts, fhe
following literature review explores the risk factors involved in the cycle of crime.
Preventative measures geared toward breaking the intergenerational cycle of crime
are also discussed.
A common setting for violence is the home. Problems of parental abuse, neglect,
and spousal abuse account for a major component of the physical and emotional
trauma suffered by children. It is therefore not only important, but necessary to
examine the effects of familial violence, abuse, and neglect on the development
of children who live within these contexts. In Heifer and Kempe's (1986) study.
82% of a group of adolescent offenders were found to have a history of abuse and
neglect and 43% recalled being knocked unconscious by one of their parents. Their
sample of violent adolescents were victims of, as well as witnesses to, severe physical
abuse. The sample provided a clear indication of how extreme physical disciplinary
practices in the home correlated with aggressive and destructive delinquency.
McCord's (1991) study came from a larger longitudinal investigation of males
who had been in a program designed to prevent delinquency. McCord (1991) ex-
amined families in which fathers were criminals and those in which fathers were not
criminals, and found significant differences that help explain the cycle of violence
among sons of criminals. Results indicated that sons of criminals were more, rather
than less, likely to become criminals. The data suggested that aggressive parental
models increased the likelihood that their sons would be involved in criminal activ-
ities. Furthermore, maternal affection, self-confidence, and consistent nonpunitive
discipline or supervision helped protect their sons from engaging in criminal be-
havior. This discovery leads to the tentative conclusion that intervention techniques
designed to develop competence among parents may be particularly effective when
the targets are children at high risk (McCord, 1991).
Who are the children at high risk and how do these risk factors perpetuate a
cycle of violence? One longitudinal study, completed by Widom (1992), looked
specifically at the cycle of violence. Widom (1992) tracked 1575 cases from child-
hood through young adulthood and compared the arrest records of the two groups.
One group contained 908 subjects who experienced some form of substantiated
childhood abuse or neglect and a comparison group of 667 children who were not
officially recorded as abused or neglected. Both groups were matched for age, race,
sex, and socioeconomic status. Clear and succinct operational definitions of abuse
and neglect allowed for a separate examination of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and
neglect.
Results indicated that children who had been abused or neglected were 58%
more likely to be arrested as juveniles, 38% more likely to be arrested as adults,