Understanding the Sexual Abuse Crisis in the Catholic Church: Challenges with 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 abusers—including 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.