Violent deaths of children in England and Wales and the major developed countries 1974-2002: possible evidence of improving child protection? / Institute of Health & Community Studies, Bournemouth University, Colin Pritchard, Ann Sharples, 1 April 2008
URL http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/117950940/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
Child protection services are criticised for failing to prevent abuse but demonstrating successful prevention is impossible as it is trying to prove a negative. The alternative is to examine failures, i.e. the violent deaths of children (0-14 years) to indicate whether matters are improving or deteriorating. This paper uses the latest World Health Organisation data to compare children's violent deaths in England and Wales with those in other major developed countries.
To account for possible hidden under-reported abuse deaths, undetermined, i.e. other external causes of death (OECD) and fatal accidents and adverse events (AAE), deaths are also analysed along with homicides, to compare all violence-related deaths between 1974-76 and 2000-02.