05:32 PM ET 11/29/99

Crimes Against Kids Underreported By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN=Associated Press Writer=

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Only 28 percent of violent crimes against

children are reported to police _ much smaller than the 48 percent

of violent crimes against adults that police are told about, the

Justice Department said Monday.

Even when a weapon was used against a child or the child was

injured, the police were less likely to find out about such attacks

than when an adult was the victim, according to the department's

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

``Serious categories of juvenile victimization that should be

coming to the attention of police and other authorities are not,''

wrote David Finkelhor and Richard Ormrod in the office's study,

``Reporting Crimes Against Juveniles.''

One factor in the underreporting is that 16 percent of violent

crimes against children _ ages 12 to 17 _ are reported to other

authorities, like school officials, instead of police, the study

said. But even taking that into account, violence against juveniles

is not as frequently reported as violence against adults. Including

reports to other authorities as well as police, violence against

children is reported 44 percent of the time, compared with 55

percent for adults.

In crimes with a weapon, 48 percent of those against children

and 65 percent of those against adults were reported to police.

When crimes caused injury, 57 percent of those with child victims

and 65 percent of those with adult victims were reported to police.

``Too many crimes against our most vulnerable and defenseless

remain hidden,'' said Shay Bilchik, OJJDP administrator. ``We must

teach our young people not to be too proud or afraid to go to the

police, and we must train law enforcement to work with child

victims.''

Finkelhor and Ormrod suggested several explanations for the

underreporting.

``There is a cultural predisposition, shared by parents, youth

and police, to view nonsexual assaults against juveniles as

something other than crimes _ rather as fights, scuffles or child

maltreatment _ and therefore not suitable for police reporting,''

they wrote.

``Adolescents ... concerned with personal autonomy may resist

the involvement of adults in their affairs, even when they involve

crime victimization,'' they wrote. ``This could be in part related

to fears that youth will be blamed for participating in or for

instigating their victimization.''

Parents also may fear that involving their children with police

may have a negative impact or might lead to reprisals from

criminals, the study said. Both parents and juveniles may fear

police will not take juvenile victims seriously.

The data comes from the 1995 and 1996 National Crime

Victimization Surveys. Each year the survey interviews 100,000