The main characteristic of a child's personality that makes him a victim of criminal offenses is his age, which brings with him ignorance, underdevelopment, susceptibility to others and often the inability to defend against attacks against them. The paper presents criminal offenses that protect the child as a possible victim. The first group consists of qualified forms of criminal offenses which impose more severe imprisonment sentences if they are committed against a child. The second group consists of criminal offenses of sexual abuse and child exploitation, which protect the child's sexual integrity and premature entry into sexual activities for which the child is not developmentally prepared and for which he cannot give mature consent and at the same time lead to numerous negative consequences. The third group consists of criminal offenses against the marriage, family and children, which protect the child from physical and emotional abuse and neglect. These criminal offenses can be divided into three groups, considering whether the object of their violation is a child, a family or the institution of marriage. However, since children are considered family members, crimes against the family are considered to be committed against children as well. After the criminal offense is discovered, the child is protected through criminal proceedings. From police officers all the way to the court, as well as people outside the system, increased attention and expertise are required in order to prevent secondary victimization, as well as the occurrence of additional and worsening of the already existing consequences of committing a crime. Through the statistical data of crimes committed in the period from 2018 to 2022, the relationship between the crimes exposed and the relationship between reported, accused and convicted criminals is shown.