APRI Highlights - Summer 2001

National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse

Victor Vieth, Director

Child abuse is arguably the most complex yet important crime America's prosecutors are obligated to investigate. A prosecutor who lacks training in forensic interviewing may be hard-pressed to defend, in court, an interview with the child abuse victim. The rarity of finding traditional items of physical evidence in cases of child abuse forces investigators and prosecutors to look harder and dig deeper to corroborate a child's allegations. Even the art of suspect interrogation is becoming more complex, with defense experts increasingly relying on suggestibility research to claim the manner of an officer's questioning produces "false confessions."

To stay abreast of the latest developments in this area, thousands of prosecutors have turned to APRI's National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse (NCPCA). The NCPCA offers numerous resources for investigators and prosecutors of child abuse.

Technical assistance

 Each year, the NCPCA receives approximately 4,000 calls from investigators, prosecutors and other child abuse professionals seeking assistance in the handling of individual cases. Assistance may include research, deciphering complex medical or forensic evidence, and brainstorming investigative and trial strategies.

Transcript database

The NCPCA maintains a comprehensive data bank of trial transcripts, writings and curriculum vitae of child abuse experts who often testify in opposition to the state's case.

Publications

The NCPCA publishes the two-volume manual, Investigation and Prosecution of Child Abuse, an authoritative text for handling criminal cases of child abuse. The third edition will go to press in the near future.

The NCPCA also publishes Update, a free monthly newsletter that is mailed to over 13,000 child abuse professionals. Topics have included trial strategies, finding corroborating evidence and child interviewing skills. A listing of other NCPCA publications can be found on APRI's website.

National Conferences

Each year, the NCPCA sponsors several national conferences:

• Equal Justice: Investigation and Prosecution of Child Abuse
• Investigation and Prosecution of Child Fatalities and Physical Abuse
• Child Sexual Exploitation
• Safety Net (investigating and prosecuting on-line offenses)
• Finding Words (speaking to children about abuse and defending those interviews in court)

To meet the intense demand for Finding Words, the NCPCA launched Half a Nation by 2010. This is a new initiative in which center staff works with individual states to establish their own forensic interviewing courses tailored to local laws and dynamics. By the end of the decade, the NCPCA will have established a forensic interview training program in at least half the states in America.

For more information about APRI's National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse, please contact ncpca@ndaa-apri.org.