Child maltreatment in male justice-involved adults: Associations with a history of and future violent crime

Child maltreatment (CM; e.g., emotional, physical, and sexual abuse as well as emotional and physical neglect) is common among justice-involved samples, but its role for the development and persistence of violent crime in adulthood is not clear. To further illuminate these dynamics and inform criminal risk assessment and violence prevention, the present study examined the prevalence of child maltreatment and its associations with violent crime in a sample of 320 male justice-involved adults. Self-reports on the five abovementioned subtypes of CM were compared between individuals with and without a history of officially registered violent crime and associations with future convictions for violent offenses were examined, using (M)ANOVAS, Chi 2 -statistics, and binary logistic regression models. CM prevalence was higher among the present male justice-involved adults than in general population samples. Individuals with a history of violent crime reported more frequent CM than those without, particularly regarding abuse, but not neglect. Among CM subtypes, physical abuse was primarily associated with a history of violent crime, yet CM showed no significant relations to future violent crime. These results underline that CM is common in justice-involved samples with abusive experiences being of particular relevance for engaging in violent crime. Although CM may not display a direct risk factor for future violent crime, addressing CM in working with justice-involved adults may be beneficial to understand and inhibit individual pathways to violent crime.