Crime scene investigation in child-abuse cases

Although child abuse and neglect continue to appear in the medical literature frequently, little regarding scene investigation in such cases has been discussed. Many explanations have been offered for this deficit, the most common one is based on the time delay between infliction of the injury and discovery. At the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, child-abuse cases submitted for consultation repeatedly show deficits in the scene investigation and its documentation. Since the discovery of child abuse is dependent on either physical evidence of repetitive punitive measures or an injury pattern not in agreement with the alleged circumstances, it behooves the assigned investigator to make every attempt to document the scene(s) as in any other criminal investigation.