Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2007, $700,000)
The National District Attorneys Association's (NDAA) American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI) will develop a comprehensive program that intends to reduce child victimization in the areas of the commercial sexual exploitation of children, internet crimes against children (internet safety), and child abuse. This program will enhance juvenile justice and child protection by way of multi-disciplinary courses, in addition to trainings for state and local prosecutors. NDAA/APRI has identified several problems that need to be addressed so that prosecutors and other child abuse professionals can more readily meet the increasing demands placed on them with the advent and rise of internet crimes against children. Among the problems they have identified and seek to address are: prosecutors need quality, up-to-date training to successfully prosecute child sexual exploitation cases; prosecutors and child abuse professionals need easier access to the most current information in the field of child sexual exploitation; and these professionals also need a national resource for materials, experts, and individualized technical assistance.
NDAA/APRI intends to achieve the following goals: 1) Provide prosecutors and child abuse professionals with the skills to handle child sexual exploitation cases by providing a total of four week-long national level courses, including Safety Net which is designed for multi-disciplinary teams, and Unsafe Havens which is designed for prosecutors; 2) Provide ongoing local and regional trainings to prosecutors, child abuse professionals, and community organizations on the topic of child sexual exploitation and internet safety by providing at least ten state or local trainings or lectures during the grant period; 3) Provide useful and relevant publications for prosecutors and other child abuse professionals involved in child sexual exploitation cases by providing weekly and quarterly case law updates; and 4) Provide ongoing technical assistance for prosecutors and other child abuse professionals handling child sexual exploitation cases by providing them with written materials, maintaining and expanding their expert witness database to those who work in the field of child prostitution, commercial child sex trafficking, and online crimes against children, providing individualized technical assistance, and continuing their Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) working group participation. CA/NCF