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Reporting Crimes Against Juveniles., David Finkelhor, Richard Ormrod

Crimes Against Children Research Center

The American justice system is in the midst of an effort to evaluate and reform its handling of the criminal victimization of children and youth. Juveniles are unusually vulnerable to crime victimization (Hashima and Finkelhor, 1999), but concerns have been raised about the effectiveness and sensitivity of the justice system’s response to these crimes. The findings presented in this Bulletin indicate that a majority of victimizations of juveniles ages 12 to 17 are not being reported to police or other authorities. Even serious victimizations involving weapons and injury are significantly less likely to be reported when they happen to juveniles …