citation

Child Maltreatment and Juvenile Delinquency: Investigating the Role of Placement and Placement Instability
Joseph Ryan and Mark Testa

Using a sample of all maltreated and nonmaltreated children in Chicago, Illinois and its surrounding Cook County suburbs, researchers found delinquency rates among victims of maltreatment are an average of 47% higher than for children who are not abused or neglected. Researchers also found that children with at least one placement in foster care were significantly more likely to have a delinquency petition, compared with children who had never entered foster care.