Citation

Siegel JA, Williams LM. J. Res. Crime Delinq. 2003; 40(1): 71-94.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0022427802239254

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Child sexual abuse has been hypothesized to be an especially significant factor in the etiology of girls' delinquency and women's crime. This article reports on a prospective study of 206 women who, in the period from 1973 to 1975, were treated in a hospital emergency room in a major city following a report of sexual abuse. Their subsequent juvenile and adult criminal records were compared to a matched comparison group. Child sexual abuse was a statistically significant predictor of certain types of offenses, but other indicators of familial neglect and abuse were significant factors as well.