Fatal Factors for Preschoolers

• Author: Janice E. Clifford,Melissa J. Tetzlaff-Bemiller,Lin Huff-Corzine,Jay Corzine,Greg S. Weaver,John P. Jarvis
• DOI: 10.1177/1088767915624948
• Date: 01 February 2017
• Published date: 01 February 2017
• Subject Matter: Articles

Homicide Studies

2017, Vol. 21(1) 3 –20

© 2016 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/1088767915624948

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Article

Fatal Factors for

Preschoolers: Victims,

Offenders, and Context

Janice E. Clifford1*, Melissa J. Tetzlaff-Bemiller2*,

John P. Jarvis3, Lin Huff-Corzine4, Greg S. Weaver1,

and Jay Corzine4

Abstract

This research examines how victim and offender characteristics, as well as contextual

factors are related to the lethality of assaults for children less than 5 years old. The

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data for 2006 to 2011 were

analyzed using logistic regression techniques to estimate two models designed to

explore factors associated with the death of preschoolers. Results indicate that the

probability of fatality is significantly influenced by victim and offender characteristics,

victim–offender relationship, weapon used, time of incident, and region of the United

States in which the incident occurred.

Keywords

child homicide, fatal child abuse, child victimization, violent crime, assault, NIBRS

Introduction

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), homicide has been

the third leading cause of death in the United States for children ages one through four

every year since 2007 (CDC, 2007-2011). Compared with all industrialized nations,

1Auburn University, AL, USA

2University of Memphis, Jackson, TN, USA

3Federal Bureau of Investigation, Quantico, VA, USA

4University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA

*Both authors contributed equally to this work.

Corresponding Author:

Janice E. Clifford, Department of Sociology, Auburn University, 7030 Haley Center, Auburn,

AL 36849, USA.

Email: cliffje@auburn.edu

624948HSXXXX10.1177/1088767915624948Homicide StudiesClifford et al.

research-article2016

4 Homicide Studies 21(1)

child abuse and neglect fatalities are highest in the United States where there are an esti-

mated four child deaths per day from primary caregiver maltreatment (Child Welfare

Information Gateway, 2014). Statistics also show that up to one in five child homicides

occur in the context of domestic violence in the home (Jaffe, Campbell, Hamilton, &

Juodis, 2012) and that children ages four and younger are the most likely victims of child

homicide caused by maltreatment and account for 77% of the child fatalities due to

abuse and neglect (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2014, p. 3). Statistics may not

reflect the extent to which child maltreatment leads to fatal outcomes, however, because

some homicides resemble other causes of mortality, for example, sudden infant death

syndrome (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2014; Finkelhor & Ormrod, 2001).

Although there are many studies noted throughout this work that describe the num-

bers of child deaths due to maltreatment, fewer have explored correlate effects with

lethality. The purpose of the present study is to expand our understanding of child

homicide by exploring which associated factors related to violence toward preschool-

ers may be significantly related to the odds of a lethal outcome. Using logistic regres-

sion to analyze National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data for 2006 to

2011, we estimate two models designed to explore factors associated with the death of

preschoolers, including victim and offender characteristics, and contextual factors,

such as weapon choice, time of the incident, and region of the United States where the

crime occurred.

Literature Review

Abuse or neglect can result in immediate death from a single acute incident or be

drawn out over a period of time with death following medical complications from

repeated injuries. Whether the death is the outcome of one or more physical attacks,

homicide among young children is characteristically different from murder among

teens and adults indicating that it needs to be studied separate from murders of older

individuals (Finkelhor & Ormrod, 2001). Some explanatory factors we include are

related to the child, while others are associated with the offender and the context in

which one or more incidents of child abuse or neglect exist.

Victim Characteristics

Age, sex, and race. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

publication, Child Maltreatment, Chapter 4, Fatalities, for the years 2006 through

2011, the statistics for child fatalities have remained quite consistent. Infants have the

highest rate of victimization ranging from 16.7 to 18.4 per 100,000, which represents

a range of 499 to 621 children less than age one who were killed each year. As soon as

children reach age one, the rate of homicide drops by more than half of the earlier rate

and continues to drop to less than 2.00 per 100,000 for children 3 years of age.

Girls tended to fair better than boys at all ages with rates between 2006 and 2011

ranging from 1.7 to 2.1 compared with 2.4 to 2.6 for boys per 100,000. Recent studies

that also report that boys are more likely to be killed include Klevens and Leeb (2010),