Risk factors that influence the maltreatment-offending association: A systematic review of prospective and longitudinal studies

Child maltreatment and criminal convictions in youth: The role of gender, ethnicity and placement experiences in an Australian population

“…For example, it is well established that the vast majority of young people who have experienced maltreatment do not go on to commit crime (DeGue & Widom, 2009;Widom, 1989), and a range of risk and protective factors have been shown to influence these developmental pathways (for detailed reviews see Kerig & Becker, 2015;Malvaso, Delfabbro & Day, 2016).…”

The maltreatment-violence link: Exploring the role of maltreatment experiences and other individual and social risk factors among young people who offend

“…There have also been a number of longitudinal studies which have examined possible pathways from maltreatment to youth offending (see Malvaso et al 2016 for a review). Although these studies tend to use community or child protection samples and focus only on the initiation of offending or first contact with the police or justice system, the findings from this body of research can be used to inform studies on serious and violent offenders because they identify potentially important risk factors for offending.…”

“…Given that a history of poor family functioning has been consistently linked with youth crime (Sampson & Laub, 2005;Stouthamer-Loeber, Loeber, Homish, & Wei, 2001), it would be remiss to investigate the effects of maltreatment or OHC placement without reference to other underlying or pre-existing risk factors, such as the child's family background. A recent review of studies examining the broader maltreatment-offending association concluded that a multitude of familial factors play a role in mitigating or exacerbating risk (Malvaso et al, 2016). Parental separation or single parent families, parents with particular characteristics (e.g., lower levels of education and a history of substance abuse, mental health problems or criminality), and poor parent-child and peer relationships were all found to increase the risk of offending.…”

“…For example, Feiring, Miller-Johnson, and Cleland (2007) found that abuse-specific shame and self-blame attributions among victims of sexual abuse led to increased anger and, in turn, these factors were associated with increased delinquency. A number of studies have also linked experience of child physical abuse with perpetration of violent crime (Maxfield, Weiler, & Widom, 2000;Smith et al, 2005), but neglect appears to also be emerging as an important predictor of violent crime (Malvaso et al, 2016). It might be that the trauma and stress associated with any experience of maltreatment, and its associated consequences of disrupted cognitive, educational and social development, is consequential in the etiology of violent behavior.…”

“…Violence is a global criminal justice and public health issue which has widespread social and economic consequences requiring policies and interventions that prevent both its onset and development (World Health Organisation, 2002). There is now a robust body of evidence to suggest that the risk for violent offending is greater amongst victims of maltreatment, but it is also recognized that this association is often likely to be moderated or mediated by a range of individual psychological and social factors (for reviews see Malvaso, Delfabbro & Day, 2016;Wilson et al, 2009). In general, this research shows that only a small proportion of victims of abuse will go on to commit violent offenses and it is likely that not all forms of child and adolescent maltreatment are equally associated with subsequent risk.…”