In recognition of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, the Wellesley Centers for Women and Massachusetts Children’s Alliance have joined together to co-host a webinar on the prosecution of child sexual abuse. During the program, Dr. Stephanie Block, Dr. Linda M. Williams, and Graduate Student Dr. Hannah M. Johnson will share insights from their white paper, Prosecution of Child Sexual Abuse: Challenges in Achieving Justice. They will be joined by Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall who will discuss the relevance of this work to the field.

The white paper is based on a study, funded by the National Institute of Justice, of 500 child sexual abuse reports to determine which reports resulted in prosecution and which cases made it to trial. The study examined the characteristics of cases that dropped out of the criminal justice system along the way and identified many of the obstacles that prosecutors, child victims and their caregivers, and child advocates face in responding to these cases.

Please register in advance for this event.

Panelists:

• Linda M. Williams, Ph.D., Director of the Justice and Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative; Senior Research Scientist, Wellesley Centers for Women
• Stephanie D. Block, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell
• Kate B. MacDougall, J.D., Assistant District Attorney; Chief, Family Crimes and Sexual Assault Unit, Essex District Attorney's Office
• Hannah M. Johnson, Ph.D., Recent Doctoral Candidate in Applied Psychology and Prevention Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell
• Moderated by Thomas King, LICSW, Executive Director, Massachusetts Children’s Alliance