Justice for the Injured Child. For more information go to http: //www.blanelaw.co

This guide provides practical pointers for police in determining whether a child's injuries are accidental or intentional. Police should begin their investigation by asking the caretaker for an explanation of the child's bruises or injuries. All bruises must be investigated. If bruises are found on two or more planes of a child's body, investigators should be suspicious. A physical examination of the suspected child victim must be conducted and the data clearly and accurately recorded. Laboratory data should be obtained to support or refute the evidence of abuse. If the reported history of an injury or injuries changes during the course of an investigation, or if there is conflict between two adult caretakers as to the cause of injury, the likelihood of child maltreatment increases. The demeanor of the child's parents or caretakers should be carefully observed. This booklet outlines key points in the areas of repetitive accidents, skin injuries, and bruises. The latter discussion focuses on the age dating of bruises, bruise configurations, and natural or normal bruising. Guidelines are also provided for investigating the following types of injuries: burns, poisoning, head injuries, eye injuries, and internal injuries. Also discussed are criteria for distinguishing sudden infant death syndrome from fatal child abuse and other medical conditions. 23 supplemental readings and a list of 23 organizational resources.

This unique compilation reproduces official documents about child abuse and missing children. Contents include: Portable Guide To Investigating Child Abuse - Law Enforcement Response to Child Abuse * Recognizing When a Child's Injury or Illness Is Caused by Abuse * When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide * The Crime of Family Abduction - A Child's and Parent's Perspective * Investigating Child Fatalities * Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Child Sexual Abuse * Battered Child Syndrome: Investigating Physical Abuse and Homicide * Burn Injuries in Child Abuse * Law Enforcement Response to Child Abuse * Diagnostic Imaging of Child Abuse * Forming a Multidisciplinary Team To Investigate Child Abuse.Law Enforcement Response - Child abuse is a community problem. No single agency has the training, manpower, resources, or legal mandate to intervene effectively in child abuse cases. No one agency has the sole responsibility for dealing with abused children. When a child is physically assaulted or sexually abused, the ideal response is for doctors to treat injuries, therapists to counsel the child, social services professionals to work with the family, law enforcement officers to arrest the offender, and attorneys to prosecute the case. This is possible only if the agencies and organizations involved have an established process for working together to respond to child abuse cases. The most effective community response involves establishing a child protection team that includes professionals from the medical, mental health, criminal justice, social services, and education fields who understand and appreciate the different roles, responsibilities, strengths, and weaknesses of the other team members and can cooperate and coordinate their efforts. Law enforcement's role in child abuse cases cannot be overstated. It spans the entire case from the initial call, through the investigation, to the court proceedings. Law enforcement officers investigate and determine if a criminal law has been violated; identify and apprehend the offender; file appropriate criminal charges; and provide guidance and support to the child, family, and other agencies involved. Law enforcement's response needs to be constant and consistent. This guide provides the information officers need to ensure consistency, understand their importance as vital members of the multidisciplinary team, and recognize the value of effective procedures and protocols in guiding their work with other professionals to meet the needs of abused children.Each year, nearly 1.3 million children are reported missing. Although the unforeseen absence of a child is always upsetting, fortunately most missing children are returned home in a short period of time. This fact, however, provides little consolation for the parents of children whose whereabouts and welfare remain unknown. The Guide provides helpful advice for parents whose children are missing and also offers encouragement and support.Investigators should have a working knowledge of battered child syndrome and what it means to an investigation. Battered child syndrome is defined as the collection of injuries sustained by a child as a result of repeated mistreatment or beating. If a child's injuries indicate intentional trauma or appear to be more severe than could reasonably be expected to result from an accident, battered child syndrome should be suspected. In such cases, an investigator must do more than collect information about the currently reported injury. A full investigation requires interviewing possible witnesses about other injuries that the child may have suffered, obtaining the caretakers' explanation for those injuries, and assessing the conclusions of medical personnel who may have seen the victim before.

There are few things is our society that provoke such raw emotions as that of child abuse. Most people, justifiably so, are outraged when they hear of allegations of abuse, and their anger is intensified as they learn of what seems to be an inappropriate criminal justice response. However, the debate on child abuse usually happens though visceral emotions rather than facts. Taking emotions out of a child abuse debate is much easier said than done, but it is of utmost importance to identify the facts. When the reader has a better understanding of the scope of child abuse, they can become more objective but still maintain their passion about ways to protect this vulnerable and targeted population. Child Abuse, Child Exploitation, and Criminal Justice Responses is unique in that it offers the reader contributing facts based not only through scholarly research, but practical experience working in field, from this wonderful collaboration of criminal investigator and forensic nurse. Thus providing much personal insight and demonstrating how these two areas of expertise can join forces to achieve the objective of working as a team to facilitate safeguarding children. The authors also presents the research on this complex yet worthy topic by identifying the unique challenges of investigating these offenses while ultimately bringing the perpetrators to justice, and presenting the research from various perspectives of child abuse including both national and international issues and responses.

With its unique human-rights perspective on the study of childhood victimization and an innovative, child-inclusive restorative justice model, this book promises to be a touchstone for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers concerned with children's well-being in the aftermath of crime and violence.

Despite inventing the juvenile court a little more than a century ago, the United States has become an international outlier in its juvenile sentencing practices. The War on Kids explains how that happened and how policymakers can correct the course of juvenile justice today.