NCJ Number
102155
Date Published
1983
Length
134 pages
Annotation
This Los Angeles study examined 10 case studies of initial police responses to child abuse complaints. A questionnaire was answered by 225 officers to determine how their characteristics of rigidity, dogmatism, authoritarianism, compulsivity, and social responsibility related to their knowledge of child abuse and consequently their decisionmaking in child abuse situations.
Abstract
Analyses of the 10 case studies, using means and standard deviations, indicated that physical abuse was more commonly reported to the police than sexual abuse. Biological parents from a variety of ethnic backgrounds abused their children regularly, probably due to the lack of parenting skills and an inability to tolerate frustrations. Most child abuse occurred between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. to children from 1 to 15 years old. A followup study 6 weeks after the initial police intervention indicated that 60 percent of the abused children were still in the home. Officers' initial response time averaged 26 minutes, and officers averaged 5.8 hours on each child abuse complaint. Of the officers administered the questionnaire, 108 were experienced and 117 were recruit officers. Questionnaire experienced and 117 were recruit officers. Questionnaire results were analyzed using analyses of variance, multiple correlation, simple correlations, and t-tests. Findings indicate the dogmatic, authoritarian, rigid police officer may have difficulty relating to families suspected of child abuse. The highly compulsive officer with a sense of social responsibility may be the most effective officer in child abuse investigations. Recruit officers had more knowledge of child abuse than experienced officers. 42 references, tabular data, and study instruments.