NCJ Number
122257
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 68 Issue: 2 Dated: (Fall-Winter 1988) Pages: 11-24
Date Published
1988
Length
14 pages
Annotation
The present research on case rejection decisions for child sexual abuse referrals under the Massachusetts District Attorney Reporting Law provides several important insights into case attrition processes.
Abstract
The District Attorney Reporting Law, implemented in October 1983, requires the Massachusetts Department of Social Services (DSS) to refer to the relevant jurisdiction's district attorney all founded cases of serious child abuse. The two primary requirements of the legislation are the mandatory referral of cases from the DSS to the appropriate jurisdiction within 5 working days after investigation and substantiation of alleged abuse and the convening of a multidisciplinary team meeting for each case. To examine prosecutorial decisionmaking for child sexual abuse cases throughout the court process, criminal court processing was analyzed for cases referred to the South County District Attorney's office during the first 2 years of the law's implementation. A comparison of case log summary information with qualitative case record data suggests that witness cooperation and evidentiary problems are the primary reasons prosecutors cite for case attrition judgments. Findings also indicate that research focusing only on a case summary analysis of "officially recorded" reasons confines and limits the analysis from an examination of other important factors in prosecutor discretion and case attrition processes. Major problems with a purely case summary approach are twofold: standard categories of witness/evidence problems allow the potential misapplication and overuse of these rationales as reasons for prosecutor decisions and categorical information may offer an incomplete or superficial understanding of case attrition processes due to lack of depth in the information provided. 32 references, 4 tables.