A benchmarking analysis done by the CDC shows that one out of every forty-three babies in America are abuse victims and that the risk is even higher during their first week of life. White males seem to be at greatest risk.
We see news coverage every day describing gruesome details of abuse and death involving innocent children, namely infants so young they cannot defend themselves. Two recent cases, one involving a
young boyfriend who raped his girlfriend’s 5-month-old baby while the girl was at work and another was the
tragic death of a newborn moments after his birth when a 13-year-old mother tried to flush him down a school toilet, brought horror to the hearts of many as their stories made local headlines.
In a first-ever report, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has actually been able to put a number to these horrific crimes,
according to the New York Times.
Although domestic violence is on the rise in the country, babies too tiny to toddle or move themselves out of harms way seem to becoming the victims of horrific crimes more and more. In 2006, nearly 500 babies died in abusive or neglectful hands in the United States, with over 900,000 being victims of maltreatment.
One in 43 infants are physically abused every year and roughly, 30,000 of those are under a week old.
At a week, an infant sleeps most of the time, spending waking periods eating and crying to have their immediate needs for cuddling, food, sleep or diaper changing met.
Maltreatment is the third highest cause of death in children under the age of three in the United States, as stated in the article by Ileana Arias, leader of injury-prevention at the centers.
Data was collected from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) for the 2006 fiscal year from most states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. The only states where data was not available were Alaska, Maryland, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
According to the study report, each state defines maltreatment within its own parameters and guidelines, although state and federal laws require certain baseline investigations and reporting procedures.
Therefore, study conclusions are only based upon “substantiated” maltreatment cases and not speculative cases.
Study Results Broken Down By Gender and Ethnicity:
51.6% of victims were boys
43.6% of victims were white
25.2% of victims were African American
19.3% of victims were Hispanic
6.9% of victims were unknown race/ethnicity
3.1% of victims were mixed race
1.3% of victims were American Indian/Alaska Native
0.6% of victims were Asian
Among the 91,278 infant victims of substantiated maltreatment, 35,455 or 38.8% were less than 1-month-old. Of these, 29,881 or 84.3% were less than 1-week-old.
Since this is the first study of its kind, a trend of increase of decrease has yet to be established as far as the rate of abuse in the United States. Lets hope that it shows a decrease in the next few years.
