Skip to the main content

Professional paper

The Incidence and Distribution of Child Sexual Abuse in Croatia 1993-2002

Ina STAŠEVIĆ
Darko ROPAC


Full text: croatian pdf 6.848 Kb

page 1129-1147

downloads: 795

cite


Abstract

The incidence of child sexual abuse penalized according to
the Croatian Criminal Justice Act is presented. The
prevalence and distribution of the phenomenon according to
counties during the 1993-2002 period were analyzed. Of
the five criminal offenses described, acts of indecency
involving a child were most common with a mean annual
incidence of 3.5 per 100,000 children aged <18 years,
followed by sexual act with a child (2.5/100,000), and
lascivious acts in the presence of a child (1.0/100,000). At
present, other criminal offenses related to pornography are
of a minor importance in the structure of child sexual abuse.
During the period of observation, the cumulative incidence of
child sexual abuse ranged from 0.9 in 1993 to 14.1 in
2002, with a peak of 15.1 in 2000. The mean annual
incidence during the 10-year period was 7.4 per 100,000
children, showing a statistically significant increase
(y=1.53+0.35x; p=0.03; r=0.69). Results of the study
showed the Croatian society to be by no means free from
the problem of child sexual abuse, however, the issue has
not yet been thoroughly and comprehensively considered at
the national level, thus necessitating specific and systematic
multidisciplinary studies.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

18098

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/18098

Publication date:

31.12.2005.

Article data in other languages: croatian german

Visits: 2.100 *