11 Definitions of Child Abuse and Neglect
Child abuse and neglect are defined by Federal and State laws. At the State level, child abuse and neglect may be defined in both civil and criminal statutes. This publication presents civil definitions that determine the grounds for intervention by State child protective agencies.1 At the Federal level, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) has defined child abuse and neglect as “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caregiver that results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act that presents an imminent risk of serious harm.”2
CAPTA defines sexual abuse as follows:
The employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct or the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct; or The rape, and in cases of caretaker or interfamilial relationships, statutory rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children.3 In response to increased awareness of the sex trafficking of minors in the United States, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 further de- fined child abuse through amending CAPTA with the following special rule:
A child shall be considered a victim of “child abuse and neglect” and of “sexual abuse” if the child is identified, by a State or local agency employee of the State or locality involved, as being a victim of sex trafficking (as defined in § 103(10) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102)) or a victim of severe forms of trafficking in persons described in § 103(9)(A).4
DEFINING CHILD ABUSE OR NEGLECT IN STATE LAW
State civil laws define the conduct, acts, and omissions that constitute child abuse or neglect that must be reported to child protective agencies. For this publication, statutes defining child abuse were collected from all 50 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. An analysis of the information collected indicates that all States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands provide civil definitions of child abuse and neglect in statute. States recognize the different types of abuse in their definitions, including physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. Some States also provide definitions in statute for parental substance use and/or for abandonment as child abuse or neglect.
PHYSICAL ABUSE
Physical abuse is generally defined as “any nonaccidental physical injury to the child” and can include striking, kicking, burning, or biting the child, or any action that results in a physical impairment of the child. In approximately 44 States and American Samoa, Guam, the North