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Study: Link Between Child Abuse and Potential Future Crime

According to a new report by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, more than 2,000  children in New York were abused or neglected in 2010.

Monroe County's District Attorney Sandra Doorley says more than 200 children were abused every day during that year around the state but in Monroe County, thousands of cases go undocumented. She adds, most abused children grow up to become abusers themselves.

“77,000  children are abused every year. 77,000...that’s enough to fill Madison Square Garden three times over,” says Doorley.

The study says nearly 30 percent of abused children grow up to become violent criminals. It also emphasizes the benefit of home visiting services like the Nurse-Family Partnership Program that helps new parents cope with the stresses of raising a young child.

According to the report, such programs can cut child abuse and neglect by as much as 50 percent.

In 2010, abuse and neglect claimed the lives of 114 children in New York state.