A Tribute to Jon Conte: Editor of the Journal of Interpersonal Violence

Jon Conte was a pioneer in recognizing the importance of interpersonal violence and establishing the Journal of Interpersonal Violence in 1986. For this festschrift, authors were asked to identify a research question or questions that need to be addressed in understanding, preventing, and responding to interpersonal violence. I have chosen to focus on two questions that both deal with the impact of the sources of information used to understand the consequences of childhood maltreatment. The issue is that the sources of information may themselves influence study findings. In the context of existing research, two questions are addressed: (1) What explains race disparities in arrests for violence for Black and White maltreated children? and (2) How do the limitations of the accuracy of recall influence the results of studies under the umbrella of interpersonal violence and how do these limitations affect the interpretation of the results and implications drawn?