Walsh Wendy A, Jones Lisa M, Swiecicki Carole C
a University of New Hampshire , Durham , New Hampshire , USA.
J Child Sex Abus. 2014;23(2):198-216. doi: 10.1080/10538712.2014.868386.
Given the difficulty of obtaining criminal justice data on child abuse cases, information from child advocacy centers could be an important resource for answering questions about criminal justice outcomes for child abuse cases. In this exploratory study, we use data from one child advocacy center (N = 632) to examine the feasibility of using NCAtrak, a national computerized, Web-based case tracking system, to examine criminal disposition timeframes in child abuse cases. The system data indicated that the time frame for the cases to be criminally resolved varied widely. About one in four child physical and sexual abuse cases with adult offenders took more than one year to reach a final disposition. About 11% of child sexual abuse cases with juvenile offenders took more than one year to reach a criminal disposition. We encourage child advocacy centers using computer-based data systems to think of additional ways they might use this potentially rich source of data.
鉴于获取虐待儿童案件刑事司法数据存在困难，儿童维权中心提供的信息可能是解答虐待儿童案件刑事司法结果相关问题的重要资源。在这项探索性研究中，我们使用来自一个儿童维权中心的数据（N = 632），来检验使用NCAtrak（一个基于网络的全国性计算机化案件跟踪系统）考察虐待儿童案件刑事处置时间框架的可行性。系统数据表明，这些案件刑事解决的时间框架差异很大。约四分之一涉及成年犯罪者的儿童身体虐待和性虐待案件需要一年以上时间才能达成最终处置。约11%涉及少年犯罪者的儿童性虐待案件需要一年以上时间才能达成刑事处置。我们鼓励使用基于计算机的数据系统的儿童维权中心思考更多利用这一潜在丰富数据源的方法。
