Leston Krysten Leston Professor Wolcott ENC 1102 March 16, 2014

Children and the Criminal Justice System: An Annotated Bibliography

This annotated bibliography is intended for anybody interested in the Criminal Justice System involving children. These articles highlight the major concepts, effects, and outcomes from different cases. Through reading this, you should be able to discover the methodology, credibility, and results from different studies and theories. A career in criminal justice usually involves upholding the law in cases that require enforcement of strict justice systems. It involves proper procedures of legalities through the people who practice and obey it. Increased prosecution is one result of greater societal awareness of child abuse. It is clear, however, that thousands of criminal cases are filed each year and virtually all experts agree that prosecution is often necessary. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized the importance of prosecution and reports of child sexual abuse are received by child protective services agencies and the police. These are very credible sources involved in our system, both the police and prosecutors have put a great deal of effort into improving the way we investigate and prosecute sexual offences, abuse, and any other crimes involving children. Strategies and techniques have improved policy and guidance have been improved. There is a lot to learn from past studies that may be beneficial to those who are interested in our criminal justice system.

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Nikulina, Valentina and Widom, Cathy S. Child Abuse and Neglect Components Child Abuse Review 21 Sage 2013.In this scholarly journal article, Valentina Nikulina and Cathy Spatz Widom from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, evaluate the long term of effects of abuse and neglect on executive functioning. This study examined whether childhood abuse and neglect predicts components of executive functioning and nonverbal reasoning ability in middle adulthood and whether PTSD moderates this relationship. Their method was using a large sample from court cases of childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and maltreatment from ages 0-11 years and matched with adults with the age of around 41 years old. Data was analyzed using ordinary square regressions, controlling for age, sex, and race, and of IQ, depression, and excessive alcohol use. Childhood neglect and maltreatment predicted the poorest executive functioning over time and, physical and sexual abuse did not. PTSD did not moderate the results or have an affect. The conclusion is that childhood neglect and maltreatment have more of a long-term effect and impact on adult functioning. Nikulina and Widoms research is relevant to my own because I am interested in social work or criminal justice involving children. Their observations will be beneficial to my own and are credible in the aspect that the teach at a school for criminal justice which indicates that there is the core motive for this study.

Leston Golding, Jonathan Sexual Assault Trials and Hearsay Testimony Journal of Sexual

Assault Denver 2012. In this scholarly article Jonathan Golding, Mary Alexander, and Terri Stewart from the University of Kentucky investigated the effect of hearsay witness on perceptions of an alleged victim in a sexual assault trial. Male and Female participants read a fictional sexual assault case that involved a child. This prosecution case included the testimony of only one key witness the alleged child victim, a hearsay witness, or a psychologist. The hearsay witness led to as much support of the alleged victim as the child and the expert witness and more support than the control group. Women were consistently more supportive of the alleged victim than men. A 3-way interaction of age of hearsay witness, age of alleged victim, and sex of participant was discussed in terms of the effect of these factors on how mock jurors use hearsay testimony in a child sexual assault trial. A child being a sexual assault victim may have an effect on the jurors, this can have multiple reasons why. This is very relevant to my research because it has a lot to say about children and the criminal justice system. These authors examined a court case and did an eleaborate investigation and study involving different aspects, this created a credible source. Esmah Lahlah, Leontien et al Dangerous Boys or Boys in Danger? Examining the Relationship between Ethnicity, Child Abuse and Violent Offending European Journal of Criminology. Sage 2013. Lahlah, van der Knaap, and Bogaerts from Tilburg Law School decided to examine ethnic differences in being exposed to child abuse exist between boys in different countries and, if they do, whether they are related to differences in the extent of the violence between the different

Leston groups. The results were that Moroccan- Dutch boys are more likely to report abuse and violence than Dutch boys. Differences in exposure to child abuse are of sufficient magnitude to partially explain the observed differences in levels of violent offending between Dutch and Moroccan boys. Through this study we find that there is a need for social services and criminal justice professionals to provide prevention of these crimes, also to provide intervention strategies for

abused young boys. The writers of this article suggested that further research into the effects of child abuse on juvenile violent delinquency on the ethnic minority should take complexity into account. I am interested in this matter and want to build a career from this subject matter therefore; this study is relevant to my research. Baratvand, Mahmood and Asadollahi, Abdolrahim Sexual Abuse and Drug Abuse Among Homeless Children in Ahvaz, Iran Child Abuse Review 22: 408418. doi: 10.1002/car.2263. Baratvand, Soodani, Zarei, Asadollahi are professors at the University Putra Malaysia in the department of counseling. They conducted a study in the Ahvaz Correction Centre in 2008 to compare the relationship between specific variables such as drug and sexual abuse and homelessness among children. They had a sample of 28 children and they collected data by the social workers practicing in the correction centre. The mean age of children on the streets was about 12 years old and the average time of the group living on the street was about three years. Sexual and drug abuse was a common factor among most of the children. The children all committed crimes such as stealing, drug use, and sexual abuse among other children. It was found that most of these children

Leston had families with a history of conflict, divorce, and crime. Probably the most

significant relationship that they found was that the children who maintained links with the families at the detention center were less likely to return to crime after release. This study was relevant to my research because it dealt with children and the effects of crime and abuse.

Morrill, Mandy Sibling Sexual Abuse: An Exploratory Study of Long-term Consequences for Self-esteem and Counseling Considerations Journal of Family and Violence 29: 205-213 doi: 10.1007 Springer, 2014. Mandy Morrill from Valparasio University conducted research on child sexual assault among siblings. She believes it has been largely overlooked in sexual abuse literature. She used peer reviewed research to highlight some of the major issues and long-term consequences. Using the Rosenbreg Self Esteem Scale she explored the long-term impact on childrens self esteem for those who have experienced sibling sexual abuse. The results were tremendous, because the unique length and severity that comes with sibling molestation children usually experience disruption of 2-3 developmental stages of life. The energy intended for different tasks are used for survival. Morrill with the help of undergraduate students took a sample of students and began the research. She conducted the study by using scales of abuse such as siblings forcing to watch pornography, being touched , or touching another sibling. Although I never thought about this type of abuse for my research I realize that it is relevant and contains valuable information that is useful to the field I am interested in.

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Saha, Indranil and Lee, Soumya Repeated Abuse during Childhood and Adolescence Leading to Suicidal Behavior in an Adolescent: A Case Report Web 2012. All the authors of this article from medical colleges in India conducted a study about children who are neglected, maltreated, or abused by typically their parents, siblings, or schools. These children usually deal with long-term consequences from child abuse and develop suicidal tendencies in adolescence or adulthood. They began their research by using a child abuse cases that had repeated suicidal attempts. By using individual and family therapy, coupled with other specific interventions they saw improvement among the kids. It has helped the teenager and his family led a normal life. Thus, proper treatment and counseling will be helpful to cope with difficult family and social situations. This probably a generic study done multiple times but it is a very vital study. This study is vital because it highlights the base of abuse and indicates there are ways to help and ease those who are abused. Welch, Ginger and Bonner, Barbara Fatal Child Neglect: Characteristics, Causation, and Strategies for Prevention Child Abuse and Neglect vol 37 issue 10 pp 745-752 Elsevier 2013. This scholarly article written by Welch and Bonner, who are both from the University of Oklahoma in the Department of Human Relations, research child fatalities. They say that abuse and neglect has continued to increase, yet the mechanisms of the death incident and risk factors for these deaths remain unclear. This study systematically examined the types of neglect that resulted in

Leston childrens deaths as determined by child welfare and review board. They began by reviewing 22 years of data of child fatalities taken from a larger sample with variables such as age, ethnicity, and birth order. Results found an overwhelming presence of supervisory neglect in fatalities. The results indicated no significant

differences between children in rural and urban areas. This study underscores the critical need for prevention and educational programming related to appropriate adult supervision and adequate safety measures to prevent a child's death because of neglect. I found this article to be very beneficial to my research and field of criminal justice dealing with children. Munro, Eileen Taylor, Julie S. Bradbury-Jones, Caroline Understanding the Casual Pathways to Child Maltreatment: Implications for Health and Social Care Policy and Practice Child Abuse Review vol 23 issue 1 pp 61-74 Web 2014. This scholarly article written by Munro, Taylor, and Bradbury-Jones, who are all from Universities from the UK, deal with the Child Protection Research Centre. Their study was examining the current understandings regarding the causes of child maltreatment and its prediction and prevention. Their goal was to find the answers to why some people hurt children, when others in similar situations choose not to. They began studying philosophy and the complexity of casual pathways of maltreatment. This resulted in the INUS condition. INUS is the acronym for insufficient but non-redundant part of a condition that is itself unnecessary but sufficient for the result. This theory has relevance for discovering social phenomena and how complex it is. They finished by discussing the lessons for research, policy and practice that arise from this way of conceptualizing the

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causality of child maltreatment. This journal article was very insightful and full of information that is beneficial to the research of children and how they are treated and become who they are. Fang, Xiangming; Brown, Derek S.; Florence, Curtis S.; Mercy, James A. The Economic Burden of Child Maltreatment in the United States and Implications for Prevention. Child Abuse & Neglect Vol.36 Issue 2, p156-165 Feb2012. Fang, Brown, Florence, and Mercy who all study at the University of Wyoming and wanted to evaluate child maltreatment wrote this scholarly article. The objective of this study was to present new estimates of the average lifetime costs per child maltreatment victim and aggregate lifetime costs for maltreatment cases using the incidence-based approach. Their method was to use secondary data to develop cost per case estimates. The results were that the estimated average lifetime cost per victim of nonfatal child maltreatment is $210,012 in 2010, including $32,648 in childhood health care costs; $144,360 in productivity losses; $10,530 in adult medical costs; $7,728 in child welfare costs; $6,747 in criminal justice costs; and $7,999 in special education costs. The estimated average lifetime cost per death is $1,272,900, including $14,100 in medical costs and $1,258,800 in productivity losses. The total burden and economic strain in 2008 was $124 billion, but in sensitivity analysis it is as much as $585 billion. Child maltreatment is substantial compared to other health problems and is therefore forgotten and neglected. This study dealt with costs and economic examples but says a lot about the criminal justice field. This is very useful information and can be used for a lot of factors.

Leston Wright, Emily; Fagan, Abigail and Pinchevsky, Gillian The Effects of Exposure to Violence and Victimization Across Life Domains on Adolescent Substance Use Child Abuse & Neglect vol. 37 issue 11 pp. 899-909 Web 2013. This scholarly article written by Wright, Fagan, and Pinchevsky performed a longitudinal study from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. They wanted to examine and evaluate the effects of exposure to school violence, community violence, child abuse, and parental partner violence in families. They also included on youths subsequent alcohol and marijuana use. They also combined the cumulative effects of being exposed to violence across these domains. There were 1,655 adolescents used for the study, they found that exposure to violence in a one-year period increased the use of substance 3 years later. The findings also suggest that the context in which exposure to violence occurs should be considered in future research, since the more domains in which youth are exposed to violence, the fewer safe havens they have available. Finally, a better understanding of the types of violence youth encounter and the contexts in which these experiences occur can help inform intervention efforts

aimed at reducing victimization and its negative consequences. This study really opened my eyes to new concepts in criminal justice. The information in this study is very useful and needs to be researched to really grasp all of these ideas. Cross, Ted Perceptions of Justice in the Criminal Justice System: The Experience of Non-Offending Caregivers of Child Sexual Abuse Victims Web 2009. This scholarly article that was published online by Ted Cross, a professor from the University of Brandeis. Cross goal for this study was to understand how non-

Leston 10 offending caregivers of child abuse victims perceive justice. Cross wanted the reader to be able to wrap their head around how it was that the caregivers coped after the disclosure of the crime. A survey was administered to non-offending caregivers of child sexual abuse victims with cases referred to the criminal justice system concerning what they wanted for interventions after the case was done and if their satisfaction with the actual interventions in their childs case. The issue of what factors consider when making their decisions and beliefs of justice after their experience. They evaluate the views of criminal justice system in the context of social justice theory. I couldnt find a clear result of this study except the caregivers view mostly diminished about the criminal justice system. Breitenstein, Larry Managed Care Effects on the Reporting and Substantiation of Child Abuse and Neglect Proquest Web 2001. This scholarly article by Larry Breitenstein, a professor from the University of Missouri, wanted to focus on reducing childhood maltreatment. Through this study he advocated a new national child protection strategy. He wanted to focus on child centered, neighborhood based, and family focused scenarios. He began this strategy with the human ecological theory. He really wanted to focus on the impact, which is never really heard of when using this theory. The purpose of this study was to compare the risk of child abuse and neglect over a period of 6 months in three groups these groups were family based or non-family based, neighborhood based, etc. The results were all very different and there were many equations involving the outcome after 6 months the family and non family differed the most, and neighborhood based had the highest risk of neglect. This study was one of the

Leston 11 most interesting ones I found, it had a lot of good information and demonstrated a lot about the criminal justice system through child abuse. Levine, Marlene The Effects of a Neighborhood-Based Integrated Service Delivery System on the Risk for Child Abuse and Neglect UMI Michigan 2002. Marlene Levine wrote about her study in 2002, she has a Ph.d and a degree for being a doctor of education. There are many organizations and agencies concerning the maltreatment of children all over the world, but there is a need for strategies on the different types of atmosphere of abuse and recovery. Levine studied three groups and wanted to see which group was more at risk for abuse. The first group was provided with a family support coordinator. The second group was strictly neighborhood based, and the final group was strictly a control group. She chose families from a large metropolitan area and examined them for 6 months. Afterwards they were interviewed and she found the results for which group was more at risk for abuse and neglect. The second group was definitely the most at risk, not having any visitors and not being dependent upon home guests. The other two groups didnt differ as much from their standard living. This study suggests a lot about child abuse, the fact that different environments can come so much in play in someones life is significant. Langsam, Adam H. Juvenile Substance Abuse Criminal Career Continuity. 160pp. Web August 2000. Adam Langsam, A doctor of philosophy at the University of North Texas, began this project to focus on the role of drugs in the criminal career continuity. In an earlier study he examined the bivariate relationship between drug

Leston 12 use and committing crime as an adult. Now he strictly wants to focus on the purpose of this study, which was to examine the role of juvenile drug use on the likelihood of committing crime during adulthood. He looked at the way a juveniles career develops over his/her lifetime. He followed carefully defined groups of juveniles who shared similar situations. Because cohort members experience a common situation at one time, it is likely that they will be exposed to many of the same events and experiences over time. He also found that punishment plays a big role because they do not want to risk their comfort. He discovered that juvenile delinquents who use drugs more likely to commit crimes in adulthood than those juveniles who committed no crimes as juveniles through his longitudinal study on different juveniles. His credibility and relevance isnt compromised he had a lot of help and guidance and his study seems significantly important and well thought out. Jaros, Ken Effects on the Reporting of Child Abuse UMI Kentucky 2007. Ken Jaros, who has his B.A. from Eastern Kentucky University, wanted to reduce the risk a childhood abuse. This study examined the effects that Medicaid managed care on the findings of child abuse and neglect. Child protective service agencies depend upon medical providers for reports of suspected child abuse also forensic information needed to substantiate maltreatment. He explored how the changes in health care delivery brought about by Medicaid managed care could affect the effect of child abuse. He found through his hypothesis that Medicaid care system related to the reduced rate of reporting of child abuse from hospitals. He also found that that the managed care had a relationship to reduced reports of abuse

Leston 13 from behavioral health providers. His database for this study consisted of 167,367 Pennsylvania child abuse and neglect incidents reported from 1992 through 1998. Reports of abuse from hospitals and findings of physical abuse and findings of bruises declined significantly in areas that implemented managed care. Not only was this study a big discovery, it helped a lot of children I assumed. With the help of health care providers he truly showed credibility and nobility.