New Report Shows One Year of Child Abuse and Neglect Leads to 160 Future Violent Criminals in Pennsylvania
May 5th 2008
HARRISBURG, May 5-Failing to prevent child abuse and neglect produces an estimated 160 future violent criminals each year in Pennsylvania, according to a new report by the anti-crime organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania.
Adams County District Attorney Shawn C. Wagner, Cumberland County District Attorney David J. Freed, Dauphin County District Attorney Edward M. Marsico, Jr., and Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green released the report during a press conference in the Capitol Rotunda. They are calling on the General Assembly to invest more in the Nurse-Family Partnership, a quality home-visiting program for at-risk families proven to cut child abuse and neglect.
According to the report, Breaking the Cycle of Child Abuse and Reducing Crime in Pennsylvania: Coaching Parents Through Intensive Home Visiting, some 4,162 children were abused and neglected in Pennsylvania last year, and 46 children were killed as a result of this abuse and neglect.
"Intervening after a child has been abused is always too little, too late," Marsico said. "We must focus on preventing these children from being hurt in the first place. Stopping this violence means everybody wins-law enforcement, taxpayers, and families."
Several state legislators joined the law enforcement leaders in calling for increased funding for the Nurse- Family Partnership (an existing line item in the Department of Public Welfare's budget) by $2.5 million ($1.5 million above the Governor's request) in the 2008-2009 state budget.
Wagner said that child abuse and neglect often launches a cycle of violence that extends into the next generation. He cited research showing that poor mothers who were abused and neglected as children were 13 times more likely to abuse and neglect their children than similar moms who were not abused and neglected as kids.
"Child abuse and neglect inflicts a terrible toll in victims now and potential crime victims later," Wagner said. "Since we know what to do to stop it, it's just common sense to invest more in the Nurse Family Partnership program."
The Nurse-Family Partnership program sends registered nurses on regular visits into the homes of first-time, young, at-risk moms beginning in pregnancy and continuing until their child's second birthday. Pregnant women get coaching on having a healthy pregnancy and baby. New mothers learn about the health and nutrition needs of newborns, how to promote their child's development, and how to deal with the stress of parenthood without resorting to dangerous forms of discipline. The program also improves families' economic self-sufficiency by helping parents develop a vision for their own future, plan future pregnancies, continue their education and find employment.
A study of the Nurse-Family Partnership found that by the time the children reached age 15, mothers in the program had 61 percent fewer arrests than mothers left out of the program, and their children had 59 percent fewer arrests than the kids left out. Unfortunately, in Pennsylvania the Nurse-Family Partnership is so under-funded that it can only serve about 23 percent of eligible at-risk families.
"We know that the Nurse Family Partnership cuts crime. By increasing the state investment in this program, we ensure that Pennsylvania's most vulnerable children won't become Pennsylvania's most wanted adults," Green said.
Green added that the Nurse-Family Partnership saves taxpayer money. Analysts with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis reported that the Nurse-Family Partnership produced an average of five dollars in savings for every dollar invested and produced more than $28,000 in net savings to taxpayers for every high-risk family enrolled in the program.
"If today is like most days, 11 children in Pennsylvania will be bruised, burned, sexually molested, or left alone hungry, without needed medical treatment or basic care. Some may even be killed. More funding for the Nurse-Family Partnership will help prevent these tragedies," Freed said.
Legislators present included Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, Senate Majority Whip Jane Orie, Senator Patrick Browne, Senator Edwin Erickson, Representative Beverly Mackereth, and Representative Phyllis Mundy.
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Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania is a bipartisan, nonprofit anti-crime organization of over 200 police chiefs, sheriffs, district attorneys, leaders of police officer organizations and victims of violence.