Family Violence As a Cause of Crime: Rethinking Our Priorities

Abstract

Although we have known for some time that the victims of child abuse are more likely to grow up to be delinquent and more recently that even the bystanders to family violence have similar tendencies, there has been little attention paid to this fact in criminal justice policy making. Since these victims grow up to become the next generation's offenders, both inside the home and outside the home, there is good reason to develop policies based on a recognition that crime prevention policy requires immediate attention to the problems of woman abuse and child abuse.