1. society
2. crime

8/25/2013
Chapter Objectives
Heavy Hands
CHAPTER
5
Investigating Child
Abuse
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Initial Investigation
• Social service agencies make determinations
regarding the safety of the child in the home.
• Police officers must determine if probable cause
exists to believe a crime has been committed and
to identify the offender for possible prosecution.
• The criminal investigator must document any
injuries and collect evidence substantiating the
maltreatment.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Introduction to Physical Abuse
• The recognition of abuse and collection of
substantiating evidence becomes extremely
important in abuse cases.
• Any reports and other documentation generated
may become the focus of the court if prosecution
proceeds.
• This history should be collected before the victim
is interviewed and then compared with the
explanations.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
• Discuss the significance of injury location on a
child who may or may not have been physically
abused.
• Describe the significance of pattern injury that
may be found in children who have been
physically abused.
• Explain the criminal act of family abduction.
• Describe indicators of child sexual abuse.
• Explain the role of police officers in the
investigation of child abuse.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Four Critical Steps
1. Go to the Source
 Collect information and interviews
2. Get Records
 Prior records
3. Conduct Interview
 Conduct separate interviews with caretakers
4. Go to the Scene
 Look to see whether the explanation for the
abuse is consistent with the location of the
abuse
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Bruises
• Any location of injury that the child is incapable
of self-inflicting is cause for concern.
• When an injury is caused while enforcing
p
or for the p
purpose
p
of inflicting
g injury,
j y, it
discipline
is an example of nonaccidental injury.
• If a child is punched, kicked, thrown, or shaken
and sustains injury, no matter how slight, the
abuser could be held legally responsible
regardless of the child’s preexisting medical
condition.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
1
8/25/2013
Bruising
Patterns of Injury
• Age dating of bruises involves noting the color
of bruising present on a victim and documenting
this information using the following time frame:
• Common household items are frequently used as
weapons, but the most dangerous weapon
remains the hand.
• Other objects used to hit a child may leave a
distinguishable pattern of bruising
bruising, identifiable
identifiable,
for example, as that caused by a hairbrush, cord,
or coat hanger.
• Patterns from grabbing, biting, and attempted
strangulation can be observed.
• As stated earlier, punishment taken too far is at
the root of most abuse.
 Bright red bruises are indicative of an injury 0
t 2 days
to
d
old.
ld
 Bluish or purple bruises are 2 to 5 days old.
 Green indicates a bruise 5 to 7 days old.
 Yellow bruises are 7 to 10 days old.
 Brown bruises are 10 to 14 days old.
 No evidence of bruising is present after 2 to 4
weeks.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Head Injuries
• Infants rarely suffer head injuries that are
accidental.
• Toddlers just learning to walk present a
different picture; they frequently have
lumps on their foreheads because of
falling.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Burns
• Burn injuries account for approximately 6% to
20% of all abuse cases, and severe burns are
reported in an estimated 10% of all children
suffering physical abuse.
• Children under the age of four are at the greatest
risk of being burn victims, with boys more likely
to incur injury than girls.
Toon, M. H., Maybauer, D. M., Arceneaux, L. L., Fraser, J. F., Meyer, W., Runge, A., & Maybauer, M. O. (2011).
Children with burn injuries-assessment of trauma, neglect, violence and abuse. Journal of Injury & Violence Research,
3 (2), 98–110.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Family Abduction
• Family abduction is the taking, keeping, or
concealing of a child or children by a parent,
other family member, or person acting on behalf
of the parent or family member that deprives
another individual of his or her custody or
visitation rights.
• The majority of child kidnappings are family
kidnappings.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Family Abduction
• All states and the District of Columbia have
statutes that prohibit parental kidnapping.
• In addition, the International Parental Kidnapping
Crime Act of 1993 makes it a federal offense for
parents to abduct children from the United States
and take them to another country.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
2
8/25/2013
Syndromes
• Munchausen syndrome by proxy is
included here because it involves both
physical abuse and medical neglect of a
child.
• Munchausen syndrome by proxy abuse is
characterized by repeated unnecessary
medical tests and procedures, which are
demanded by a caretaker and cause
physical injury to the child.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Syndromes
• Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is the
medical term used to describe the violent
shaking of a child and the injuries that can
result.
• It results from the violent shaking of an
infant by the shoulders, arms, or legs.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Death Due to Abuse
Death Due to Abuse
• More children under age four die from child abuse
and neglect than from automobile accidents,
falls, fires, drowning, suffocation, and choking on
food.
• An estimated 1,537 children in the United
States die of child abuse and neglect each
year; this translates to a rate of 2.07
children per 100,000 children in the
general population.
• Specialized units have been developed for
investigating reports of child abuse in the courts,
police departments, and social service agencies
across the country.
Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2012). Child abuse and neglect fatalities 2010: Statistics and interventions.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Death Due to Abuse
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Death Due to Abuse
• The killing of a brother or sister is called
fratricide.
• Filicide is the killing of children by parents; it is
a nonlegal term that in some studies may include
victims of infanticide.
• Rarer than any other family homicide, it
occurs in 1.5% of the total criminal deaths
in the United States.
• Although all murders are tragic,
tragic a parent
parent’s
s killing
of a child is a form of abuse that is difficult to
understand.
• Almost 30% of child abuse or neglect fatalities
are perpetrated by the mother acting alone.
Cooper, A., & Smith, E. L. (2011). Homicide trends in the United States, 1980–2008: Annual rates for 2009 and 2010.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2012). Child abuse and neglect fatalities 2010: Statistics and interventions.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
3
8/25/2013
Child Death Review Teams
Child Death Review Teams
• Research has shown that as many as 50%
of child deaths listed as “undetermined” or
“accidents” are actually caused by child
abuse.
• In 1978, the Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Council
on Child Abuse and Neglect (ICAN) formed the first
child fatality review team in the United States.
• Today, there are child death review teams in all 50
states Australia,
states,
Australia and Canada.
Canada
• Death review teams are typically made up of the
following representatives: a pediatrician, medical
examiner, prosecuting attorney, social worker, mental
health professional, police officer, nurse, educator,
and paramedic.
Hochstadt, N. J. (2006). Child death review teams: A vital component of child protection. Child Welfare, 85, 653–670.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Sexual Abuse Introduction
Forms of Sexual Abuse
• Child welfare agencies use different levels of legal
evidence when making decisions to substantiate
child abuse and neglect.
• A sexual assault on a child is any forced,
exploitive, or coercive sexual contact or
experience with a child. Examples are:
 Some states use preponderance of evidence, which is
the highest legal standard.
 Others use less vigorous standards, including credible
evidence, reasonable evidence, probable cause, and
other standards.
• Child sexual abuse can take place within the
family or outside of the family.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Forms of Sexual Abuse






Molestation
Rape
Voyeurism
Exhibitionism
Pornography
Forced prostitution
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Symptoms of Sexual Abuse
• Incest refers to any sexual activity
between persons who are so closely
related that their marriage is illegal (e.g.,
parents and children, uncles/aunts, and
nieces/nephews, etc.).
• Sexually abused children may develop
behavior changes, such as:
• Childhood sibling–sibling incest is also
considered to be widespread but rarely
reported.
• They may develop sleep problems or
nightmares, depression, unusual
aggressiveness, and suicidal behavior, and
may refuse to go to school.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
 Sexual acting out
 Excessive masturbation
 Unusual interest in or avoidance of all things of
a sexual nature
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
4
8/25/2013
Symptoms of Sexual Abuse
• Sexual and nonsexual trauma to the
genital area can result in abrasion,
bruising, and laceration.
• Sexual abuse may result in a sexually
transmitted disease (STD) or pregnancy.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
The Role of Police
• The use of police powers in child maltreatment
cases has been surrounded with controversy
since the earliest attempts at intervention.
• By the 1970s, specialized police units were
d
developed
l
d tto iinvestigate
ti t and
d prosecute
t physical
h i l
and sexual abuse of children.
• Typically, child protective services (CPS)
agencies, law enforcement, physicians, and
mental health workers are involved. Risk
assessment is always the first priority in any
allegation of abuse or neglect of a child.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Interviewing Children
• Any interview of a child should be
conducted in anticipation of a future legal
challenge on competency and credibility.
 Competency means that a person is fit to
stand trial or to take the oath to tell the truth
for testimony in court.
 Credibility refers to whether or not the child
witness can be believed.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Sexual Abuse Accommodation
Syndrome
• Five phases common to the experiences of
a child who has been sexually victimized:
Secrecy
Helplessness
Entrapment and accommodation
Delayed, conflicted, and unconvincing
disclosure
 Retraction




Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Interviewing Children
• Considerable research has been conducted on the
outcomes of child abuse investigations, resulting
in protocols to improve child abuse victim
statements.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
suggests that for cases involving young children
and adolescents, interviewers should receive
training in forensic interviewing and use a trained
forensic interviewer, multidisciplinary teams, or
such resources as child advocacy centers.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Electronic Recording
• This practice is controversial, having advantages
and disadvantages.
 Advantages: It can reduce the number of interviews,
has strong visual impact, and has the potential to induce
a confession when played for the offenders.
 Disadvantages: Common problems result from human
error and technology failures. Research suggests that
the vast majority of children express reluctance to talk
about sexual abuse during the first interview, and a
portion initially deny that sexual abuse occurred at all.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
5
8/25/2013
Forensic Interviewing
• The child forensic interviewer is a specialist
trained to use techniques established by
childhood development experts to create legal
evidence and testimony based on the accounts of
a child.
• The NICHD interview protocol includes three
phases: introductory, rapport-building, and
substantive or free recall.
• On review of the NICHD protocol, research has
suggested that the approach increases the
amount and quality of information that is elicited
from child victims of abuse and neglect.
Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate
and Family Violence, Fifth Edition, Denise Gosselin
Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
6