The geographic distribution of child abuse in an inner city borough

The reported incidence of child abuse continues to rise. Present funding constraints make the introduction of child abuse intervention programs of proven effectiveness very difficult. This difficulty may lead to a change in direction away from population screening which looks for individuals at risk, towards the identification of geographic areas where child abuse is persistently concentrated (target areas). The method of plotting on a large scale map all registered cases of child abuse in an inner London borough is compared to three more complicated methods in its ability to accurately identify target areas. The geographic plotting of cases is favored because of its simplicity and our ability to update it annually as well as identify smaller areas such as housing estates.