PCA America’s Study of School-Based Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Laws

Studying the Impact of School-Based Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Laws

Child sexual abuse is a serious, preventable public health issue. PCA America is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to study U.S. child sexual abuse prevention laws. We seek to understand if these laws are reducing child sexual abuse and keeping kids safe. Together, we can create safe school environments for children and prevent child sexual abuse.

State School-Based Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Laws

We collected and summarized relevant laws about child sexual abuse prevention in schools.

Click on your state or territory to find your state’s profile, and find the United States Snapshot here:

Or, Click on Your State Below to Find Your State’s Profile:

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Suggested state profile citation: Prevent Child Abuse America, National Conference of State Legislatures, & EnoughAbuse. (2024). [State(s)] Statutory Profile.  https://preventchildabuse.org/research-cdc-coag/

Aims of the Project

For this project, we created a research-practice-policy partnership (RPPP) (Aim A1). The RPPP includes people with different experiences, like survivor advocates. The RPPP guides the research process from beginning to end, including the evaluation questions. In Phase 1 of this project we: 

In Phase 1 of this project we:

Collected and summarized state laws addressing child sexual abuse in schools (Aim A2)

Completed a scoping literature review on the effects of child sexual abuse prevention policies (Aim A3)

Now, we are studying:

If these child sexual abuse prevention policies work (Aim B1)

How these policies work (Aim B2)

Whether they are working similarly for all kids (Aim B3)

Policy Categories Definitions

Education & Awareness

State laws intended to protect school children by educating them and/or the adults in their lives about the risks of sexual abuse and misconduct.

School Personnel Policies

State laws intended to create safe schools through hiring, dismissal, and other personnel practices.

Standards for Conduct

State laws that set minimum standards for conduct in schools.

Legal Accountability

State laws criminalizing sexual misconduct by a person in position of authority to further ensure safety in schools and communities.

Our Team

Our team includes Dr. J. Bart Klika, Dr. Melissa T. Merrick, Jade Angulo, Catherine Murphy, Dr. Eric Thiobdeau, La’Tasha Webster. We are also partnering with the National Conference of State Legislatures and EnoughAbuse on this project.

Additional Project Resources

  • State and Territory Profile Codebook

  • CSA Statute Citation

  • Resources

    Research Highlight: Do State Policies Create Safer Places for Children?

    In this brief, we highlight key findings from our commentary published in the Journal of Family Violence

    Resources

To learn more about this project or if you have feedback on your state/territory profile, please contact research@preventchildabuse.org.

This project is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U01CE003408) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $1,080,751 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.