Priority Indicator #10: Victim Rate per 1,000 Children

Contents: Background Information | Data Tables | Data Charts | Commentary | Download Data

Background Information

What Does This Indicator Mean?
The victim rate measures the number of reported cases of child abuse or neglect per 1,000 children (age less than 18) in a given time period. A higher rate is often associated with higher rates of substance abuse, high school dropouts, teen pregnancy and social service utilization.

Referring to a specific time period and geographic region, this indicator measures the number of reported cases of child abuse or neglect divided by the total number of children age 0-17 in the region, multiplied by 1000 to determine the rate.

Other Risk Factors or Indicators to Consider
Children who have been abused are more likely to become abusers themselves later in life.  National studies suggest that the majority of all abusers were abused or neglected themselves as children.  In addition, victims of child abuse are more likely to become involved in juvenile crime, drop out of high school and have substance abuse problems during their lives.

Limitations of the Data
These data include unduplicated counts of reported cases of child abuse.  The actual rate of child abuse is undoubtedly significantly higher, since many cases are never reported.  Additionally, because these data represent unduplicated counts of victims they do not capture the total actual level of abuse that has occurred.  Past research indicates that victims of abuse are typically abused multiple times, over long periods (Children First, 1999.)

Data Sources

• State Offices for Services to Children and Families, Oregon Department of Human Services




• County and state population data are from the US Census Bureau Estimates of Population by County
  

Presentation and Description of Data

The table below shows victim rates per 1,000 children for 1995-2001. This table shows the statewide total and the total rate for Marion and Polk Counties.  It also shows the victim rate per 100 children for selected zip codes in Marion and Polk Counties. (Click here to see a map of zip codes in Marion and Polk Counties.)

*To protect confidentiality and ensure statistical validity, zip codes with fewer than five reported cases in any year are not displayed.

The chart below shows victim rates per 1,000 children.  It gives the total statewide rate and total rate for Marion and Polk Counties.

Commentary

As can be seen above, child abuse rates were increasing for both Marion and Polk Counties.  For both counties the rate was highest in 1999, and then decreased in 2000 and further in 2001.  For all years between 1990 and 2001, the victim rate per 1,000 children was lower in Polk County than in Marion County.

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