Missing Pieces, Repetitive Practices

Abstract

The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is a serious problem. Adult sexual predators often use strategies known as grooming to entice their victims. These include targeting particularly vulnerable youth, gift giving, and systematically engaging in desensitizing sexual behaviors. Less commonly discussed is the notion of institutional grooming, the practice of strategically placing themselves in positions of public trust where they have access to children yet appear beyond reproach. Once situated, they can abuse children for decades without deterrence in spite of the fact that individuals around them may be aware–or partially aware–of their behavior. This article examines three cases, one involving a priest, another a football coach, and the third a pediatrician and considers the institutional practices and cultures that permit (or potentially permit) abuse and exploitation to flourish. Among other things it finds: confidentiality mandates and other codes of silence and secrecy impede information sharing; departmental or programmatic silos exist each with their own independent and competing agendas; confused reporting lines within the institution often end in the hands of powerful individuals who have an interest in non-disclosure; barriers exist to investing within the institution and reporting outside the institution often including mistrust and disempowerment of law enforcement and child protective services; extreme power differences exist between and among victims, predators, reporters, and other institutional players; and finally, intense loyalties personal, professional, and institutional are present. These factors produce institutional cultures that protect pedophiles and conspire against their vulnerable, individual, child victims.