Child Abuse or Accident? Bringing Science to Pediatric Emergency Departments and Forensic Investigations

 

A high number of children, approximately 2.8 million, are brought to emergency departments for fall-related injuries annually. Once there, doctors and nurses face extreme difficult in sorting the accidents from the abuse cases.   Two NIJ-funded researchers have been working together since 2008 to differentiate between abuse and accidental trauma, including gathering data on the dynamics of children falling, as well as bruising and fracture patterns. Learn more about their work and current NIJ project in our new NIJ Journal article:  READ MORE