Children's and adolescents' risk of experiencing criminal interpersonal violence is disturbingly high, but most cases are neither reported to police nor prosecuted. Yet significant progress has been made in the criminal justice response to child and adolescent victimization. Hundreds of forensic interviewers are trained in interviewing protocols based on developmental research. Many police and prosecutors receive support from multidisciplinary teams. Through Children's Advocacy Centers in the USA, thousands of child victims have access to trained interviewers, medical help, family support, and evidence-based mental health services. Specialized methods have been developed for conducting child victimization investigations and gathering corroborative evidence. Factors such as child age, mental health, and family support affect whether abuse is prosecuted. Children's testifying in court can be very stressful and negative. Countries vary in requiring child victims to testify at trial. Children who testify may do well if they have the preparation and support they need, can testify in a timely way, and do not have to testify repeatedly. Cases are much more likely to be resolved by guilty pleas than convictions at trial. The alternative of restorative justice methods may increase victims' psychological experience of justice, but require managing the risk involved with contact with the perpetrator. Most of the attrition of child victim cases occurs at the "front end" of the criminal justice system, where lies the greatest potential for system improvement. In coming decades, professionals working with child victims should strive to disseminate promising methods and test them through research.