U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

Center Resources

Each year, Center staff respond to about 4,000 calls from investigators, prosecutors, and other child abuse professionals. Staff

assistance includes conducting research, deciphering complex

medical and forensic evidence, and brainstorming with law

enforcement and prosecutors to develop investigative and trial

strategies.

Experienced prosecutors and medical, mental health, and law

enforcement professionals teach the Center’s training classes,

which include the following:

◆ “Equal Justice: Investigation and Prosecution of Child Abuse”

is the core course.

◆ “Investigation and Prosecution of Child Fatalities and Physical

Abuse” focuses on recognizing and prosecuting child homicides that have been mistakenly classified as “accidents” or

the result of “natural causes.”

◆ “SAFETY NET” offers cutting edge, advanced training to

multidisciplinary teams in investigating and prosecuting

computer-facilitated sexual exploitation of children.

◆ “Investigation and Prosecution of Child Abduction” addresses

the unique challenges prosecutors, investigators, and allied

criminal justice professionals confront in cases of child abduction. Topical areas include online luring and abduction,

abductions by strangers, international abductions, parental

abductions, and out-of-State recovery of abducted children.

◆ “Finding Words” explores the mechanics of speaking with

children about abuse and examines how to defend those interviews in court. Developed in collaboration with Cornerhouse,

a Minneapolis children’s advocacy center, “Finding Words” is

offered to professionals who apply as part of a multidisciplinary investigative team. Course participants are taught interviewing skills to better develop and corroborate admissible

offender confessions and testimonies by young or problematic subjects. Participants also learn alternative methods of

The National Center for Prosecution

of Child Abuse

by Robin V. Delany-Shabazz and Victor Vieth

Since 1986, the number of children who are abused, neglected,

and endangered every year has nearly doubled—to almost 1 million today. Emotional and behavior disorders, teen pregnancy,

prostitution, substance abuse, and delinquency and criminality

are some of the immediate and long-term consequences a child

may face because of maltreatment. Each year, nearly 1,200 children and youth are killed by caretakers; most of the victims are

5 years old or younger.

OJJDP funds the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse

(the Center) to enhance investigators’ and prosecutors’ skills and

help them handle child and adolescent abuse cases. In 1985, the

National District Attorneys Association established the Center

as a program of its American Prosecutors Research Institute.

Created to respond to the increasing number of reported child

abuse cases, the Center serves as the Nation’s main resource for

training, expert legal assistance, court reform, and state-of-the-art

information on criminal child abuse investigations and prosecutions. Center staff work to improve the juvenile justice system’s

ability to hold offenders accountable for their crimes.

Addressing the Problem

The growing number and complexity of child abuse cases and

abusers’ increasing sophistication (e.g., use of the Internet to

seduce children) severely challenge those who work to address

these crimes. Small, rural communities, in particular, face serious

difficulties in responding to abuse cases because these communities often possess limited resources and their prosecutors and

investigators cannot specialize in child abuse. Even in communities with greater resources, the task of protecting children can be

daunting: in many cases there is little, if any, physical evidence

of abuse and the primary witness is usually a child, who the

defendant’s lawyers may claim has been easily manipulated by

the prosecution. The rate of burnout and staff turnover among

investigators and prosecutors working on these cases is high.

Often, the most difficult cases are given to new or ill-prepared

prosecutors.

August 2001 #33
PRESORTED STANDARD

POSTAGE & FEES PAID

DOJ/OJJDP

PERMIT NO. G–91

FS–200133 Fact Sheet

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Washington, DC 20531

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

questioning to draw out critical information from young child

abuse victims and witnesses.

Because the need for prosecutors and investigators to develop

good forensic interviewing skills is so large, the Center has

embarked on “Half a Nation by 2010,” a partnership between the

Center and States to develop “Finding Words” into high-quality,

State-specific training institutes. Using a “train-the-trainer”

model, Center staff work with partner States to educate a cadre

of highly skilled instructors, who then teach forensic interviewing skills to professionals in that State.

The Center’s training courses and consultations prepare participants in all aspects of abuse investigation and prosecution, including advanced trial advocacy, case preparation, child sexual

exploitation, juvenile sex offenders, jury selection, preparation of

child witnesses, victim assistance, family dynamics, use of expert

witnesses, medical evidence, and collection and preservation of

forensic evidence.

To help justice and child protection system employees, the Center

offers a full range of technical support, consultation services, and

information, including the following:

◆ A comprehensive clearinghouse on child abuse case law,

statutory initiatives, court reforms, and trial strategies.

◆ Various publications, including the two-volume Investigation

and Prosecution of Child Abuse manual, the monthly Update

newsletter, a monograph series, annual statutory summaries,

and special reports, such as a Federal supplement to the

Investigation and Prosecution manual and a handbook on

parental abduction prosecutions.

◆ Expert training and technical assistance provided by experienced attorneys through conferences, site visits, State-specific

training programs, and thousands of technical assistance phone

consultations each year.

◆ Research conducted in cooperation with academic centers,

Federal and State prosecutors, and specialists on State and

Federal developments, best practices, and prosecutorial

innovations.

The demand for expertise in the area of juvenile and criminal justice has grown rapidly in the past 15 years. The National Center

for Prosecution of Child Abuse fills a critical need by providing

professional development and guidance to investigators and

prosecutors.

For Further Information

For more information or assistance contact

National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse

99 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 510

Alexandria, VA 22314

703–739–0321

703–549–6259 (fax)

www.ndaa-apri.org/apri/NCPCA/Index.html

Robin V. Delany-Shabazz is Coordinator of the Child Abuse and Neglect

Program within OJJDP’s Missing Children Division. Victor Vieth is

Director of the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component 

of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice

Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice,

and the Office for Victims of Crime.

FS–200133