Sinners and Saints

According to the Child Welfare League of America (www.cwla.org), an association of nearly 800 public and private nonprofit agencies, state and local CPS agencies received an estimated 3.3 million reports of abuse and neglect for 6 million children in 2005.  An estimated 899,000 of these reports were substantiated after follow-up investigation.

In 2005, approximately 149,234 children were physically abused, 83,607 were sexually abused and 1,371 died as a result of abuse or neglect.  The majority were under 4 years of age.  According to CWLA, many experts believe the number of abuse- and neglect-related deaths may be much higher than the official figures.

Learn startling and disturbing national and state facts on the CWLA Web site.  See how your state stacks up in this horrible fight.

www.cwla.org/advocacy/statefactsheets/statefactsheets08.htm 

www.cwla.org/advocacy/nationalfactsheet08.htm 

CWLA lists other Advocacy Organizations helping with this horrendous problem at

www.cwla.org/advocacy/advocacyresourcelinks.htm. 

According to a 1997 study done by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Northeastern University, animal abusers are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people and four times more likely to commit property crimes than are individuals without a history of animal abuse.

Other research has shown consistent patterns of animal cruelty among perpetrators of more common forms of violence, including child abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association considers animal cruelty one of the diagnostic criteria of conduct disorder.