Child-Maltreatment-Research-L (CMRL) List Serve
Browse All Past CMRL Messages
Welcome to the archive of past Child-Maltreatment-Research-L (CMRL) list serve messages (11,000+). The table below contains all past CMRL messages (text only, no attachments) from Nov. 20, 1996 - June 1, 2026 and is updated every two months.
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Message ID: 11511
Date: 2026-04-10
Author:Putnam-Hornstein, Emily
Subject:Child Maltreatment Fatalities >New Data
Dear All, I wanted to share several links to ensure researchers (and others) are aware of a new source of publicly available child maltreatment data through the Lives Cut Short project. Launched in 2024, the project has created a database of public records for children who have died of abuse or neglect. Our goal is to push for greater transparency, better data, and more accountability for the policy/practice choices that may have contributed to each of these tragedies.
On our site, you will currently find an archive of public records we have gathered, which can be filtered by state and the child’s age.
We are now using a Large Language Model (LLM) to read and categorize nearly 5,000 child maltreatment-related fatality cases from 2022 onward in our database. The LLM incorporates all available sources of information we have collected: media articles, state reports, medical examiner findings, and so forth. It is designed to identify key features of each death — such as the contribution of torture, inadequate supervision, medical neglect, or other forms of maltreatment. It also characterizes who was involved (e.g., biological parents, relatives, and so forth) and captures information on known risk factors such as substance use or domestic violence.
Given the volume of cases, this approach enables new analyses of relatively rare events, such as deaths occurring in out-of-home care settings or those involving abusive head trauma. Users can filter cases by age, state, and other features. For each flagged feature, users can also view a brief rationale summarizing the evidence supporting that classification.
This information will be made public on our site during an upcoming Lives Cut Short Event at AEI on April 22 (register here for in-person or livestream).
You may also be interested in op-eds, commentaries, and analyses the team has published over the last two years, as well as videos from two families who shared their stories with us for the project’s launch (Mason story , Miller story )
Please feel free to reach out directly with any questions! (eph@unc.edu , font@wustl.edu )
Best,
Emily Putnam-Hornstein (and Sarah Font)
_______________________
Emily Putnam-Hornstein, PhD
John A. Tate Distinguished Professor for Children in Need
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
917.282.7861 (cell)
eph@unc.edu
Children’s Data Network
Lives Cut Short
Dear All, I wanted to share several links to ensure researchers (and others) are aware of a new source of publicly available child maltreatment data through the Lives Cut Short project. Launched in 2024, the project has created a database of public records for children who have died of abuse or neglect. Our goal is to push for greater transparency, better data, and more accountability for the policy/practice choices that may have contributed to each of these tragedies.
On our site, you will currently find an archive of public records we have gathered, which can be filtered by state and the child’s age.
We are now using a Large Language Model (LLM) to read and categorize nearly 5,000 child maltreatment-related fatality cases from 2022 onward in our database. The LLM incorporates all available sources of information we have collected: media articles, state reports, medical examiner findings, and so forth. It is designed to identify key features of each death — such as the contribution of torture, inadequate supervision, medical neglect, or other forms of maltreatment. It also characterizes who was involved (e.g., biological parents, relatives, and so forth) and captures information on known risk factors such as substance use or domestic violence.
Given the volume of cases, this approach enables new analyses of relatively rare events, such as deaths occurring in out-of-home care settings or those involving abusive head trauma. Users can filter cases by age, state, and other features. For each flagged feature, users can also view a brief rationale summarizing the evidence supporting that classification.
This information will be made public on our site during an upcoming Lives Cut Short Event at AEI on April 22 (register here for in-person or livestream).
You may also be interested in op-eds, commentaries, and analyses the team has published over the last two years, as well as videos from two families who shared their stories with us for the project’s launch (Mason story , Miller story )
Please feel free to reach out directly with any questions! (ephunc.edu , fontwustl.edu )
Best,
Emily Putnam-Hornstein (and Sarah Font)
_______________________
Emily Putnam-Hornstein, PhD
John A. Tate Distinguished Professor for Children in Need
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
917.282.7861 (cell)
ephunc.edu
Children’s Data Network
Lives Cut Short
Author:Putnam-Hornstein, Emily
Subject:Child Maltreatment Fatalities >New Data
Dear All, I wanted to share several links to ensure researchers (and others) are aware of a new source of publicly available child maltreatment data through the Lives Cut Short
Dear All, I wanted to share several links to ensure researchers (and others) are aware of a new source of publicly available child maltreatment data through the Lives Cut Short
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