Case flow
CPS sample. The movement of the CPS cases is presented in Figure 1. Each case represents a substantiated
report of intra-familial/caretaker abuse. The boxes in the figure report the movement of cases along the
paths and branches as percentages of the original 225 CPS cases.
CPS referrals to DCLS and law enforcement. After CPS completed its investigation, the agency’s legal
services division (DCLS) took action on 66 (29%) cases, and all of these received dependency court
filings. Two hundred ten cases (93%) were reported to law enforcement for criminal investigation. Of
the 138 not already known to law enforcement, 89% were referred to law enforcement. One hundred
sixty cases (71%) referred to law enforcement were opened for investigation. The remaining 50 cases
were either dropped by law enforcement or of unknown status. Forty-one cases were opened by other
municipal law enforcement agencies and were not tracked in this study unless filed as a felony in the
Prosecutor’s office.
More than 1/3 (36%) of CPS sample cases led to an arrest. Only small percentages of CPS sample cases
in the Sheriff’s office were classified as inactive or information only. After being opened and classified
in law enforcement, cases were either dropped at that stage or sent to the Prosecutor’s office for possible
criminal court action.
Law enforcement to prosecutor and prosecutor’s filing. Eighty-nine cases (40% of the original CPS sam-
ple) with sufficient evidence and witnesses to ensure a reasonable chance of conviction were forwarded to