DOI: 10.3886/icpsr06338.v1
title: Police and Child Abuse: Policies and Practices in the United States, 1987-1988
title: Version 1

description: This study was conducted by the Police Foundation and the
 American Enterprise Institute to document municipal and county law
 enforcement agencies' policies for dealing with child abuse, neglect,
 and sexual assault and exploitation, and to identify emerging police
 practices. The researchers investigated promising approaches for
 dealing with child abuse and also probed for areas of weakness that
 are in need of improvement. Data were collected from 122 law
 enforcement agencies on topics including interagency reporting and
 case screening procedures, the existence and organizational location
 of specialized units for conducting child abuse investigations, actual
 procedures for investigating various types of child abuse cases,
 factors that affect the decision to arrest in physical and sexual
 abuse cases, the scope and nature of interagency cooperative
 agreements practices and relations, the amount of training received by
 agency personnel, and ways to improve agency responses to child abuse
and neglect cases.
description: Until the mid-1960s, the police handled most
 cases of child abuse and neglect, but only a small fraction of all
 cases--usually those involving severe maltreatment or death--came to
 their attention. What happened in the family was regarded as largely
 a private matter, and there were no laws requiring the reporting of
 abuse. However, with the discovery of the "battered child syndrome"
 by the medical community and subsequently by the mass media, child
 abuse came to be defined as a social problem needing social
 intervention and treatment. Recognizing that law enforcement agencies
 can play a central role in protecting abused and neglected children,
 an increasing number of states have amended their child abuse laws and
 procedures to provide for a greater police presence in child abuse
 cases. This study was conducted to document municipal and county law
 enforcement agencies' increased responsibilities for dealing with
 child abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse and exploitation, and to
 identify emerging police practices. The researchers investigated
 promising approaches for dealing with child abuse and also probed for
areas of weakness that are in need of improvement.
description: Letters soliciting participation in the study were
 sent to the chiefs of 89 municipal and 57 county law enforcement
 agencies in the spring of 1988. In each participating agency, the
 respondent was a person designated by the chief, which in most
 departments was the sergeant or lieutenant in charge of the child
 abuse squad or unit. In small departments, the specialized
 investigator who handled most of the child abuse cases tended to be
 assigned. Data collection was conducted by means of telephone
 interviews. The survey instrument was designed to (1) describe
 existing policies and procedures for identifying, investigating, and
 otherwise handling cases of abuse and neglect, (2) explore the formal
 and informal interagency cooperative arrangements for dealing with
 abuse, and (3) identify promising departmental and individual
 strategies for dealing with physical and sexual offenses against
 children. The majority of questions were of a "yes/no"
 format. Interviews took approximately one hour. In addition to the
 interview information, the researchers requested written copies of
 agency policies and statistical data on 1987 cases and their
disposition.
description: The researchers collected information about
 interagency reporting and case screening procedures, the existence and
 organizational location of specialized units for conducting child
 abuse investigations, actual procedures for investigating various
 types of child abuse cases, factors that affect the decision to arrest
 in physical and sexual abuse cases, the scope and nature of
 interagency cooperative agreements practices and relations, the amount
 of training received by agency personnel, and ways to improve agency
responses to child abuse and neglect cases.
description: Response Rates: Telephone surveys were completed with 122 (84
 percent) of the 146 agencies selected. Statistical data were received
 from 59 of the agencies, and copies of policies or guidelines from 67
of the agencies.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: A 50-percent random sample was selected.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Data File
description: Municipal and county law enforcement agencies in the
United States with populations over 100,000.