Data collection instruments
Six primary instruments were constructed. The: (1) Case Identifier Workbook was designed to
document data collection status and demographic information of all persons involved in a case; (2)
Maltreatment Abstract was designed to capture data from all four agencies on the maltreatment events,
their nature, severity, consequences, background and circumstances; (3) CPS Abstract captured maltreat-
ment specifics and case activity; (4) Dependency Court Legal Services Abstract captured information
on the status of the case, and court actions and outcomes; (5) Law Enforcement Abstract was used to
collect information on the dates of the incident, the perpetrator, the report to law enforcement, and law
enforcement response; and (6) Prosecutor’s Abstract extracted information from the case files of assistant
Prosecutors and from the Clerk of Court files.