Mandatory Reporting Laws and Identification of Child Abuse and Neglect: Consideration of Differential Maltreatment Types, and a Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis of Child Sexual Abuse Reports
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Child Maltreatment: Different Types and Consequences
2.1. Key Characteristics of Different Types of Child Abuse and Neglect
- physical abuse includes acts of physical assault by parents or caregivers which result in death or serious physical harm, or which present an imminent risk of doing so; it excludes lawful corporal punishment [12];
- sexual abuse includes acts not only of penetrative abuse, but also acts of masturbation, oral sex, fondling, voyeurism, exposure to sexual acts, exposure to or involvement in pornography and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation, all of which are acts done to sexually gratify the abuser; it is usually inflicted by an adult, but is often and can be inflicted by another, usually older child, where the victim is not developmentally capable of understanding the acts or is not able to provide true consent [13];
- neglect is constituted by omissions by parents or caregivers to provide the basic necessities of life such as food, shelter, clothing, supervision and medical care, which result in serious harm or present an imminent risk of doing so [16].
2.2. Consequences and Costs of Serious Child Abuse and Neglect
3. Nature and Function of Mandatory Reporting Laws
3.1. A Response to a Hidden Phenomenon
3.2. Nature of the Duty
3.3. A Spectrum of Approaches
3.4. The Differentiation Thesis
3.5. Observations on Mandatory Reporting and Different Forms and Extents of Maltreatment
3.6. Differential Response
4. A Comparison of Jurisdictions With and Without Legislative Mandatory Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse: Does Mandatory Reporting Appear to Identify More Cases?
4.1. A Cross-Jurisdictional Comparison Between Ireland and the Australian State of Victoria: Does a Jurisdiction With Mandatory Reporting Detect More Cases of Child Sexual Abuse Than One Without it?
Victoria (Children 0–16) | Ireland (Children 0–17) | Proportional Difference * | |
---|---|---|---|
Number of reports of suspected child sexual abuse | 5870 | 2962 | 1.98 |
Number reported by mandated reporters | 3113 | n.a # | n.a |
Number reported by nonmandated reporters | 2757 | n.a | n.a |
Number of reports substantiated or confirmed | 989 | 209 | 4.73 |
Number substantiated from mandated reports | 536 | n.a | n.a |
Number substantiated from nonmandated reports | 453 | n.a | n.a |
4.2. A Cross-Jurisdictional Comparison Between Ireland and Australia: Does a Jurisdiction With Mandatory Reporting Detect More Cases of Child Sexual Abuse Than One Without it?
Australia | Ireland | Proportional Difference * | |
---|---|---|---|
Child population June 2011 | 5,074,810 | 1,148,687 | 4.41 |
Number of children in confirmed cases of child sexual abuse | 4427 | 209 | 21.18 |
4.3. Questions of Systems Burden and Net Widening
Victoria (Children 0–16) | Ireland (Children 0–17) | |
---|---|---|
Total number of reports by all reporters of suspected child sexual abuse (number of children involved in these reports) | 5870 (5445 children) | 2962 (2962 children) |
Total number of reports by mandated reporters of suspected child sexual abuse (number of children involved in these reports) | 3113 (3039 children) | n.a |
Child population | 1,152,251 | 1,148,687 |
Contextual rate: children in all reports | 1 in 211 children | 1 in 387 children |
Contextual rate: children in reports by mandated reporters | 1 in 379 children | n.a |
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgements
Conflicts of Interest
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- 2Of the 3113 reports made by mandated reporters (involving 3039 children), 1838 were investigated and of these, 536 were substantiated.
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Mathews, B. Mandatory Reporting Laws and Identification of Child Abuse and Neglect: Consideration of Differential Maltreatment Types, and a Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis of Child Sexual Abuse Reports. Soc. Sci. 2014, 3, 460-482. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci3030460
Mathews B. Mandatory Reporting Laws and Identification of Child Abuse and Neglect: Consideration of Differential Maltreatment Types, and a Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis of Child Sexual Abuse Reports. Social Sciences. 2014; 3(3):460-482. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci3030460
Chicago/Turabian StyleMathews, Ben. 2014. "Mandatory Reporting Laws and Identification of Child Abuse and Neglect: Consideration of Differential Maltreatment Types, and a Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis of Child Sexual Abuse Reports" Social Sciences 3, no. 3: 460-482. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci3030460
APA StyleMathews, B. (2014). Mandatory Reporting Laws and Identification of Child Abuse and Neglect: Consideration of Differential Maltreatment Types, and a Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis of Child Sexual Abuse Reports. Social Sciences, 3(3), 460-482. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci3030460