By Laura Gobey
Child abuse and neglect is a major problem in Australia. This policy and practice paper provides an overview of recent research evidence on the risk and protective factors for child abuse and neglect in families. It also discusses how knowledge of risk and protective factors can inform practice for practitioners and other professionals working with children and families.
by Clifford K. Dorne, with a Foreword by Graeme R. Newman
Why has American society so often treated child abuse as a family problem to be managed rather than a crime to be punished? In this pioneering study, first published in 1989 by Harrow and Heston, Clifford Dorne traces how the nation's response to child maltreatment was shaped by competing professions: social workers, physicians, psychiatrists, legislators, police, and the courts.
Dorne begins by untangling the overlapping definitions of abuse, neglect, molestation, incest, and institutional abuse. He then follows the history of child protection from the houses of refuge and child labor campaigns of the nineteenth century, through the founding of the Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the invention of the juvenile court, to the "medicalization" of abuse after the discovery of the battered child syndrome. Later chapters examine reporting laws, child protective services, the criminal prosecution of abusers, and what criminology has learned about the causes and lasting effects of maltreatment.
Written as a blueprint for university courses, the book is notable for bringing the neglected criminal justice perspective into a field long dominated by social welfare and medicine. Graeme Newman's foreword praises it as thorough, clear, and concise. It remains a valuable record of how the modern child protection system came to be.
Read-Me.Org Inc. New York-Philadelphia-Australia. 2026. p. 267.
By Lisa Thomsen, Carleen Thompson, Amanda Robertson, Amanda Bodker, Yolonda Adams, John Rynne and James Ogilvie
Child sexual abuse (CSA) victimisation has been linked to a greater risk of engaging in juvenile offending broadly, and sexual offending specifically, for male youth. This study used both administrative youth justice data (n=7,800 youth) and clinical information from a specialised service providing interventions to youth who perpetrate sexual offences (n=377 youth) to examine the links between CSA victimisation experiences and sexual offending. CSA victimisation was more prominent among young people who sexually offended than those with non-sexual offences. CSA typically co-occurred with other forms of maltreatment and adverse developmental experiences. Findings highlight the need for early intervention to prevent the emergence of sexual harm.
By STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, Attorney General
The sordid and shameful history of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church spans generations and has affected communities across the globe. Despite its small size, our state is home to one of the largest Catholic populations per capita in the country, with over 39% of Rhode Islanders—more than any other state—self-identifying as Catholic. Victims of clergy sexual abuse in Rhode Island have come from every community, every ethnic group, and from all economic and social backgrounds. They are our neighbors, friends, and family members. Generations of Rhode Island victims, their families, and others who have suffered the impacts of this trauma deserve to know the truth of what occurred.
By His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary
This spotlight report highlights how police forces and national bodies must work together to make sure forces can meet the demand faced by online child sexual abuse and exploitation teams and management of sexual offenders and violent offenders teams.
We have reviewed the findings related to the work done by these teams from our 2021/22 and 2023–25 police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy inspections, and identified where police forces could further improve, as well as examples of good practice and innovation.
We have identified where police forces could further improve, as well as examples of good practice and innovation. And we have identified opportunities for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, College of Policing and the Home Office to work with forces to improve the system. Our report makes 16 recommendations to support this aim.