>I think this figure comes from a review article Peter Linebaugh wrote in
>NLR 20 years or so ago: 95% of the men on death rows suffered child
>abuse. I can't vouch for it.
Lots of links at the site:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/topics/crime/child-abuse/longterm-issues.htm
Being abused or neglected as a child increases the likelihood of arrest as a juvenile by 59 percent, as an adult by 28 percent, and for a violent crime by 30 percent according to one study that looked at more than 1,500 cases over time (the researchers matched 900 cases of substantiated child abuse with more than 650 cases of children who had not been abused). When the researchers looked at the children's race, they found that white children who had been abused and neglected were no more likely to be arrested for a violent crime than those who had not been abused or neglected. By contrast, black children who were abused and neglected showed significantly increased rates of violent arrests compared to black children who were not maltreated.
See Widom, C.S., and M.G. Maxfield. An Update on the "Cycle of Violence." Research in Brief. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, February 2001, NCJ 184894.
Long-term behavioral effects. Adolescents who were victims of sexual assault are three to five times more likely to suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder, be abused again, be dependent on drugs and alcohol, or commit delinquent acts than adolescents who were not victimized, according to a nationally representative sample. In addition, girls who witnessed violence were nearly twice as likely as boys to experience posttraumatic stress disorder later in life.
See Kilpatrick, D.G., B.E. Saunders, and D.W. Smith. Youth Victimization: Prevalence and Implications. Research in Brief. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, April 2003, NCJ 194972.
Violence as a precursor to later victimization. Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey suggest that nearly half of all adults are physically assaulted as children, and that more than half of all women raped are raped before age 18. Children who are victims of assault or rape are more likely to experience similar victimization as adults. Of the 17.6 percent of women surveyed who reported being the victim of an attempted or completed rape at some point in their lifetime, more than 21 percent were younger than 12 and more than 32 percent were between the ages of 12 and 17 when victimized. In addition, women who reported being raped or physically assaulted before age 18 were more than twice as likely to report being raped or physically assaulted as an adult. Moreover, 40 percent of women and nearly 54 percent of men surveyed said that they had been physically assaulted as a child by an adult caretaker.
For more detail on these findings, see Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Rape Victimization: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey and Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey.
Maltreatment implicated in later delinquency. Findings from the Rochester Youth Development Study, funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, suggest a strong relationship between childhood maltreatment and later delinquency. The Rochester study followed a sample of 1,000 urban youth over time. Researchers found that childhood maltreatment was a risk factor for officially recognized delinquency, violent self-reported delinquency, and moderate self-reported delinquency. Overall, child maltreatment appeared to be a risk factor for more serious delinquency, such as assaults, but not lesser forms of delinquency, such as underage drinking.
For more details, see In the Wake of Childhood Maltreatment
Substantiated cases of adolescent maltreatment (against children ages 12 to 17) increased the odds of arrest, general and violent offending, and illicit drug use in young adulthood.
Results are reported in detail in "Adolescent Maltreatment and Its Impact on Young Adult Antisocial Behavior" by Smith, C.A., T.O. Ireland, and T.P. Thornberry as published in Child Abuse & Neglect 29(10) (2005): 1099–1119, October 2005.