University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository
Crimes Against Children Research Center Research Institutes, Centers and Programs
10-2011
Questions and Answers About the National Survey of Children's
Exposure to Violence.
David Finkelhor
University of New Hampshire - Main Campus, David.Finkelhor@unh.edu
Heather Turner
University of New Hampshire - Main Campus, Heather.Turner@unh.edu
Sherry L. Hamby
The University of the South - Sewanee
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/ccrc
Recommended Citation
David Finkelhor, Heather A. Turner, & Sherry L. Hamby. Questions and answers about the National Survey
of Children’s Exposure to Violence. OJJDP Juvenile Justice Bulletin - NCJ235163 (pgs. 1-4). Washington,
DC: US Government Printing Office.
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, U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
N AT I O N A L SURVEY OF
Children’s Exposure to Violence
Jeff Slowikowski, Acting Administrator October 2011
Office of Justice Programs Innovation • Partnerships • Safer Neighborhoods www.ojp.usdoj.gov
Questions and Answers About
the National Survey of Children’s
Exposure to Violence
David Finkelhor, Heather Turner, and Sherry Hamby
In June 1999, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency younger and children age 10 and older about 45 different kinds
Prevention (OJJDP) created the Safe Start Initiative to prevent of violence, abuse, and victimization in the past year and over
and reduce the impact of children’s exposure to violence. As part the course of their lifetime.
of this initiative and with the support of the Centers for Disease
What new information does NatSCEV provide about children’s
Control and Prevention (CDC), OJJDP launched the National Sur-
exposure to violence?
vey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV) to document
For the first time, NatSCEV provides information on the over-
the full extent of children’s exposure to violence. The Crimes
all scope of children’s exposure to violence nationwide, both
Against Children Research Center of the University of New
past-year and lifetime, across all ages from birth through age 17.
Hampshire designed and conducted the survey between January
Aggregating all of the direct and indirect exposures to different
and May 2008. NatSCEV is the first nationwide study to examine
types of violence assessed in the study, it found that more than
comprehensively the extent and nature of children’s exposure
three in five children (61 percent) had at least some exposure to
to violence across all ages and settings. The following questions
violence, crime, or abuse, direct or witnessed, during the previ-
and answers introduce the study and its findings. For a more
ous year. As discussed below, however, this number includes
detailed overview of NatSCEV, see the OJJDP bulletin, Children’s
many forms of exposure to violence, including indirect exposure
Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey, available
(e.g., seeing an assault in the home or a shooting in the neighbor-
online at www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227744.pdf.
hood) and psychological or emotional violence (e.g., neglect or
What is the objective of NatSCEV? bullying), that are not counted in more traditional measures of
The survey provides comprehensive estimates of children’s violence.
exposure to a wide variety of violence, crime, and abuse, includ-
In addition, NatSCEV provides estimates of various kinds of
ing child maltreatment, bullying, community violence, domestic
childhood exposure to violence that were not available before.
violence, and sexual victimization.
Researchers learned that nearly 1 in 10 children witnessed an as-
What are the key features of NatSCEV? sault in their family over the course of a year and that 1 in 10 had
NatSCEV bases its estimates on a large, nationally representa- a violence-related injury in the past year. In addition, 6 percent of
tive sample of more than 4,500 children ages 17 and younger, children and youth were victimized sexually in the past year, and
including interviews of caregivers of children ages 9 and 10 percent were maltreated by a caregiver in the past year.
Access OJJDP publications online at ojjdp.gov.
Learn more about the Attorney General’s Defending Childhood Initiative at justice.gov/ag/defendingchildhood.
Find out more about OJJDP’s Safe Start Initiative at safestartcenter.org.
