Indiana Online Child Sexual Victimization Project

The State Justice Statistics (SJS) Program is designed to maintain and enhance each state's capacity to address criminal justice issues through collection and analysis of data. The SJS Program provides support to each state to coordinate and conduct statistical activities within the state, conduct research to estimate impacts of legislative and policy changes, and serve as a liaison in assisting BJS to gather data from respondent agencies within their states.

The Indiana Statistical Analysis Center is housed within the Research and Planning Division of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute (ICJI). Guided by a Board of Trustees representing all components of Indiana's criminal and juvenile justice systems, the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute serves as the State's planning agency for criminal justice, youth services, traffic safety, and victim services. The Institute develops long range strategies for the effective administration of Indiana's criminal and juvenile justice systems and administers federal and state funds to carry out these strategies.

Under this award, the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute's (ICJI) Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) will conduct activities under the following Core Capacity area: Other capacity building project identified by the SAC. Indiana has made meaningful progress in addressing online child sexual offending, but there is more that needs to be done. Funding is being sought to continue to improve statewide efforts in this area through research and investigation. ICJI will undertake a study to discover the nature of online child sexual victimization statewide, the types of services currently available for both victims and offenders, and the effectiveness of these services nationwide. Statistics collected by the Indiana State Police through its Internet Crimes Against Children Unit and data on the number and types of criminal charges filed by the county prosecutor's offices will be used to conduct the study. Information from this study will form a statewide strategy for addressing online child sexual victimization and assist in making administrative changes or improvements in handling these cases. The study will also highlight fiscal challenges in improving victim and offender services, as well as introduce any relevant legislative recommendations. (CA/NCF)