NCJ Number
232492
Journal
Victims and Offenders Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2008 Pages: 31-44
Date Published
January 2008
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Descriptive information is provided about clergy abusers following the child sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in the early 2000s, as well as policy implications and challenges in implementing effective prevention policies.
Abstract
Child sexual abuse by Catholic priests was recognized as a crisis in 2002, and in response the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) created the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People." At the time little was known about clergy abusers, their victims, or the situations regarding their abusive behavior. John Jay College researchers published two reports on the nature and scope of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests that provided descriptive information about this problem (John Jay College, 2004, 2006). This article provides descriptive information about clergy abusersincluding demographics, victim choice, grooming behavior, duration of abusive behavior, and issues related to the reporting of offenses by victims. Policy implications are discussed based upon the comparison of clergy to nonclergy abusers. As with child sexual abuse in any population, effective prevention policies are challenging to implement due to the interaction of many variables related to the abuse process. (Published Abstract)