Characterstics of Child Victims

U. S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics has combined a study of characteristics among those child victims of convicted sex offenders and child molesters. These statistics are based on the reports of offenders in the Survey of Inmates of State Correctional Facilities, and include the following:

* Three out of four children who were victimized were female.
* One-third of the covicted offenders had committed a crime against their own child.
* About half of the convicted offenders had a relationship with the child, either through friends or family.
* Only one out of seven inmates reported that their child victim was a stranger.
* Four out of ten child victims suffered forcible rape or another injury from child molesters.