NCJ Number
146848
Date Published
1993
Length
50 pages
Annotation
The Crimes Against Children Crime Analysis Project is a joint venture between the Missing and Exploited Children Comprehensive Action Program (M/CAP) and the Hillsborough County, Florida, Sheriff's Office (HCSO).
Abstract
The project's immediate goal is to develop a prototype crime analysis unit that focuses on crimes against children and children at risk. The first phase of the project attempted to determine the amount of contact police had with child victims and at risk children. During June 1991, 15,217 crime and noncrime reports originated by the HCSO and other area police departments were read to identify masked incidents, dispatched calls containing incidental information extraneous to the primary nature of the call that suggested the existence of "hidden" events involving a crime against children. Reports containing masked incidents were then classified for additional study. Masked incident survey tabulation work is currently being done at the HCSO. Preliminary findings indicate that information about some incidents involving children as crime victims or at risk of becoming crime victims is recorded as extraneous or incidental to other information contained in reports taken for other incidents. M/CAP staff will be looking at why certain incidents are masked or not reported at all to identify exploited, molested, and abducted children, as well as children at risk, and to recommend policy and procedure changes that will minimize the victimization of children. Data on the masked incident study and case histories are provided. Tables and charts