Criminal Victimization of Physically Disabled Children in the Rural Areas of Eastern Cape Province

Abstract

This paper focuses on crimes committed against physically disabled children in the rural arears of Eastern Cape. The research sample comprised of 100 physically disabled children from two special need schools (50 from each) based in the Eastern Cape. These respondents were chosen according to their knowledge of the research content and their experience in the context studied. The researcher used available/convenient sampling for selecting respondents. The questionnaires were used to collect data and the collected data was analysed by using SPSS Version 22, and thematically where narrative writing was utilised. Findings: the study finds that most physically disabled children under study experienced various forms of crime such as sexual assault, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and bullying, and they are victimized due to their disability. Most of the crimes committed against these children is not reported to the police rather to their teachers instead. Recommendation: future research to explore the attempt of infanticide of infants with disabilities due their disabilities conditions.