The fields of social welfare, clinical psychology, and medicine have produced most of the research on child maltreatment, while the field of criminal justice has been neglected. Both criminal justice and medical perspectives are needed to assure comprehensive coverage of crimes against children. The book is organized to show the historical evolution of "official" responses to child maltreatment. After relevant definitions are clarified in the first chapter, subsequent chapters trace helping professional involvement in child protection from the middle of the 19th century to the mid-1980's. Other chapters examine the criminal justice orientation as a professional response to child maltreatment, roles and jurisdictions of criminal justice agencies in child abuse cases, and incidence studies and causal theories in the child maltreatment field. Particular attention is paid to the battered child syndrome, the role of mental health professionals in child abuse cases, social welfare legislation, juvenile courts, child protective services, and criminal justice processing of child abusers. 712 references