Before 1960, only the most severe forms of abuse against children were usually reported to authorities. However, public acknowledgment that child abuse is a serious problem that should be reported has increased dramatically since then. According to researcher David Finkelhor, there has been an approximate ten percent rise in estimated number of child abuse cases per year since the 1960s. In 1990, the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse (NCPCA) estimated that over 2.5 million children in the United States suffered some form of abuse or neglect. In Finkelhor’s view, this increase is not evidence of a new epidemic of violence, but rather a result of increased awareness among the citizenry and public officials.

Many researchers believe, however, that the number of cases reported each year still represents only a small proportion of actual mistreated children. In fact, some...