¶ … Victimization: Juvenile Justice Victimization of juveniles is more widespread and prevalent than is commonly perceived. This view is shared by many experts in the field who study the statistical data relating to victimization. More than 800, 000 children - or 12 per 1, 0000 - were victims of crime, abuse or maltreatment in 2000. Sixty-three percent of maltreated children were neglected, nineteen percent were physically abused, ten percent were sexually abused, and eight percent were emotionally or psychologically maltreated. (NCVC)

In a recently released report on teen victims of crime, the National Centre for Victims of Crime urged that the problems of juvenile victimization must be addressed to find solutions. "The victimization of teenagers in America has gone largely unrecognized. Instead, in the context of crime and violence, our nation's young people are more typically characterized as troublemakers, predators, and violent criminals. When victimization has been recognized, public attention has focused almost solely on large-scale incidents, such as school shootings. Furthermore, the victims of these tragic events represent only a fraction of the teens who become crime victims. After years of focusing solely on juvenile offenders, it is time to shift our attention to the plight of juvenile victims." (NCVC: Teen Victims Report)

The same report also emphasizes that...

Teenagers are twice as likely as others to be victims of violent crime. In a national survey of high school students, one in five reported they were a victim of a violent crime in the past year. Other data show they are also more likely to be victims of property crimes than adults, although they do not often report it to the police."
1. Victimization by age

The National Centre for Victims of Crime states that "The rate of victimization of children was inversely related to the age of the child." ( NCVD) From the same source it is stated that "Children from birth to age 3 were victimized at the highest rate." It certainly seems that - from all the statistics - children and juveniles experience more episodes of serious victimization than any other age group. An extensive perspective is given of the distribution according to age from a special report released by the U.S. Department of Justice; Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) entitled Age Patterns of Victims of Serious Crimes. They found that "victimization rates increase through teenage years, crest at around age 20, and steadily decrease throughout adult years. This pattern, with some exceptions, exists across all race, sex, and ethnic groups.

(OVC)

Evidence that juveniles and younger people are increasingly the target of…