DURHAM, N.H. — A grant to help police and forensic examiners who have the difficult job of investigating child sexual abuse has been given to the University of New Hampshire
The Crimes Against Children Research Center at the UNH has been awarded a three-year grant from the National Institute of Justice to support the police and forensic examiners who have to view child sexual abuse images as part of their investigations.
UNH officials say because of the surge in child sexual abuse images online and new high-tech police techniques to intercept them, a growing number of investigators are being hired to review these images as part of criminal investigations.
Reviewing child sexual abuse images can have a toxic effect on investigators impacting their mental health and family relationships.
UNH will use the grant for research to better understand who is most impacted by the work and how to mitigate the harmful effects and promote resilience among the workforce.
Researchers will interview police investigators and forensic examiners across the U.S. and identify best practices for workload, task shifting, education, counseling, and debriefing. It will also use study findings to develop a screening instrument to help agencies assess the suitability of candidates for this kind of work.
The National Institute of Justice is the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. Kimberly Mitchell, research associate professor of psychology, will head up the research team in partnership with the National Criminal Justice Training Center, the main training and technical assistance provider for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces.
The Crimes Against Children Research Center conducts research to help policymakers, practitioners and the public improve the response to crimes against children from sexual abuse to kidnapping to bullying.
