Children Exposed to Violence

• Overview
• Funding and Programs
• Publications
   

Overview

Children are exposed to violence every day in their homes, schools, and communities. Such exposure can cause them significant physical, mental, and emotional harm with long-term effects that can last well into adulthood. Exposure to violence can limit children's potential and increase their likelihood of becoming involved in the juvenile or criminal justice system. These children are often more likely to develop a substance use disorder; suffer from depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder; and fail to thrive in school, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)-sponsored National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV II) conducted in 2011.

Funding and Programs

• Fiscal Year 2023–$7.78 million
• Fiscal Year 2022–$6.24 million
• Fiscal Year 2021–$7 million
• Fiscal Year 2020–$7.10 million
• Fiscal Year 2019–$7.10 million

In fiscal year 2023 (FY), OJJDP made 8 awards through the Strategies to Support Children Exposed to Violence totaling more than $7.78 million for communities to develop coordinated and comprehensive community-based approaches to help children and their families who are exposed to violence build resilience, restore their safety, heal their social and emotional wounds, and prevent future violence and delinquency.

In FY 2022, OJJDP made 7 awards through the Strategies to Support Children Exposed to Violence totaling more than $6.24 million for communities to develop coordinated and comprehensive community-based approaches to assist children and their families who are exposed to violence build resilience and prevent future juvenile violence and delinquency. 

In FY 2021, the office made 8 awards through the initiative totaling $7,002,598 for communities to develop and provide support services for children exposed to violence in their homes, schools, and communities; and to develop, enhance, and implement Community Violence Intervention strategies that focus on addressing juvenile delinquency and crime through informed approaches. This initiative also funded a training and technical assistance provider, American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences, to support the project sites and provide general training activities focused on exposure to violence as well as violence prevention and intervention.

Through the FY 20 Strategies to Support Children Exposed to Violence, OJJDP made 7 awards totaling $7,106,070 for communities to develop and provide support services for children exposed to violence in their homes, schools, and communities; and to develop, enhance, and implement violent crime reduction strategies that focus on violent justice-involved youth. 

Enhancing Law Enforcement Response

The OJJDP-funded project Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Children Exposed to Violence and Childhood Trauma launched in May 2017. The project produced a toolkit that provides law enforcement professionals with resources to effectively respond to children who have been exposed to violence. The resource was created as part of a cooperative agreement among the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Yale Child Study Center and OJJDP.

Additional Resources

• Sexual Exploitation of Children
• The Vicarious Trauma Toolkit 
• Task Force on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence 
• Through Our Eyes: Children, Violence, and Trauma 
• Report of the Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence 
• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network 

Stay Informed

Stay Connected with OJJDP to keep informed about issues, research, reports and programs on children exposed to violence and trauma. 

Subscribe to OJJDP's bimonthly electronic newsletter OJJDP News @ a Glance and the JUVJUST listserv; or follow OJJDP on Twitter or Facebook.