ERIC Number: EJ807037
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1049-7315
EISSN: N/A
Child Maltreatment and the Justice System: Predictors of Court Involvement
Sedlak, Andrea J.; Doueck, Howard J.; Lyons, Peter; Wells, Susan J.; Schultz, Dana; Gragg, Francis
Research on Social Work Practice, v15 n5 p389-403 2005
Objectives: Characteristics of the child victim, perpetrator, and maltreatment incident were used to examine predictors of court involvement in cases of serious child maltreatment. Method: Cases were drawn from those reported to: child protective services (n = 225), "sheriff's office" ( n = 225), "prosecutor's office" ( n = 60), "and dependency court" ( n = 65). Logistic regression was used to calculate predicted probabilities of criminal court involvement and dependency court involvement Results: Cases involving female victims were more likely to be filed in criminal court, and sexual abuse had the highest likelihood of prosecution. Cases involving male perpetrators, older perpetrators, and multiple victims were more likely to be filed for prosecution. Physical neglect was the most common type of maltreatment to result in dependency court filings. Perpetrator gender had opposite effects in the two systems. Conclusion: Tracking cases even in the same jurisdiction is confounded by the lack of common identifiers across the agencies involved. (Contains 5 tables.)
Descriptors: Sexual Abuse, Child Abuse, Criminals, Justice, Probability, Court Litigation, Predictor Variables, Child Neglect, Social Work
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A