ABSTRACT
This chapter covers empirical tests of an association between child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency. Retrospective studies of juvenile delinquents consistently have found that these youth experienced maltreatment at rates much higher than the general population. The chapter discusses methodological problems and non-comparability issues that are associated with much of the research in this area. A problem associated with many of the retrospective studies of delinquents is their use of reports from the juveniles themselves to identify child abuse or neglect in the histories of juvenile offenders. One formulation of the relationship holds that it is not just abuse but severe physical punishment, whether termed abuse or not, that is linked to later delinquent behavior. The possibility that certain stressful family situations or characteristics press toward both maltreatment and delinquent behavior by family members would seem to be fertile ground for research.
