At our Lend A Hand Luncheon on April 7, we began a community-wide call to action and advocacy on behalf of children in this community. We had 250 guests attend this event, which included a panel discussion and a Q&A session. Any questions from the audience that our expert panelists didn't have time to address at the event will be answered here on the CEO Blog.

April 13, 2011

Q: What is the success rate of prosecution for child abusers?

– Len Baird

A: The success rate for child abuse prosecution trials is approximately 75% in Tarrant County.

Judge Mollee Westfall

April 8, 2011

Q: Is there any data from National Studies that provides evidence of correlation between funding of key programs and a decline in abuse rates? If abuse rates are down nationally, can we look at one state or community with a compelling success rate? What % of funding did they have in the successful communities? What other non funded volunteer programs are there?

– Karen Burchfield

A: Yes, evidence does correlate that the funding of key programs is associated with declining abuse rates. David Finkelhor and Lisa Jones with the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire have been studying the rates of childhood victimization for many years. In a study published in 2006, they link “social interventions” with reduced rates of victimization. (Finkelhor, D and Jones, L , 2006. Why have child maltreatment and child victimization declined? Journal of Social Issues, Vol 62, No. 4, pp 685-716.)

Many other studies have evaluated the effects of prevention programs and identified models that show promising outcomes for targeted populations. Good sources of information for these studies are the OJJDP Model Programs Guide http://www.ojjdp.gov/mpg/ and the Child Welfare Information Gateway http://www.childwelfare.gov/. There are several programs targeting groups.

I’m not aware of research that identifies the ideal percent of funding for prevention but some economists are starting to do excellent work to identify the economic advantage of funding prevention. This is the key to justifying the value of funding prevention programs. The best work I have seen is being done by Michael Aos at the Washington State Institute for Public Policy http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/default.asp.

Yes, we need good volunteers! Call ACH at 817.335.HOPE (4673) for opportunities we have available.

Wayne Carson, PhD

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