Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Research Articles

Amplifying victim–survivor voices: media power, collective action, and ultra-Orthodox Jewish identity in the Leifer case

This article underscores the transformative impact of victim–survivor voices in reshaping public discourse on child sexual abuse (CSA). The research project took as the backbone for analysis the Malka Leifer case that spanned 15 years and is linked to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse's report of Case Study 22, which examined responses in ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools to child sexual abuse. Adopting a mixed methods research approach, this study combines qualitative media analysis of 102 news articles and 8 in-depth focus groups to investigate the impact of media outlets in amplifying victim voice and influencing public discourse, and how this impacts the subjects of mediatised public crises. Drawing on the theorising of Couldry and Cottle, the article considers the capacity and limitations of survivor-advocates to leverage media power in the contemporary media system. By exploring the ‘Privileging Victim Voice’ frame, this paper sheds light on how victim–survivor advocates utilised mainstream, local religious, and social media to solidify their central place in the narrative and its reportage. The media analysis served as the foundation for a ‘peer conversation’ style of focus groups with Jewish community members to investigate local impacts of the case's media reportage. The focus group methodology sought to represent this diverse community as wholly as possible. Findings reveal the significant power of journalists’ framing and sourcing practices, and how Jewish institutional child sexual abuse is framed by media outlets within the Australian media landscape. Further, it showcases the broader implications of public inquiries, such as Australia's Royal Commission, in empowering victim–survivors and centreing their narratives in media reportage.

Stereotypes and unconscious bias in institutional child sexual abuse: Barriers to identification, reporting and prevention

AbstractChild sexual abuse within institutional settings has been a major concern for governments around the world for many years. Consequently, prevention policies have been developed, and institutional child abuse laws have been strengthened in many jurisdictions. Legislation is important to prevent reoffending, however, the majority of childhood sexual abuse remains unreported and undetected. While awareness of the failings of institutions to properly identify and respond to child abuse has grown in recent years, barriers to reporting institutional abuse remain understudied, impacting the ability to prevent abuse. One possible reason that prevents workers from identifying and reporting child sexual abuse is that their judgements are vulnerable to stereotypes and unconscious biases about who perpetrates and is victimised by sexual crimes and what constitutes warning signs of sexually abusive behaviours. Research in psychology provides key insights into human reasoning processes that can lead to bias, so workers fail to identify, respond and prevent grooming and child abuse in an organisational context. This paper reviews what is known about the development and maintenance of stereotypes and unconscious bias, their role in institutional sexual abuse, and concludes with a discussion of measures that can be taken to mitigate unconscious bias to prevent child abuse.

How does the media represent institutional child sexual abuse within Jewish communities? A case study of the Malka Leifer court case

AbstractConcerns about institutional child sexual abuse within Jewish communities have been documented in two recent national enquiries into child sexual abuse, in Australia, and England and Wales. Yet to date, there has been little analysis of how media reporting informs public awareness of these concerns, and potential programme and policy responses. This paper examines media reports of the high‐profile case of ultra‐orthodox Jewish school principal Malka Leifer who was found to have sexually abused several girls in her school in Melbourne, Australia. It draws on five Australian media publications (two specifically Jewish and three mainstream newspapers), from the initial committal hearing in September 2021 until the completion of her trial and conviction in July 2023. Our findings highlight the importance of child safety processes as being aligned with the specific religious and cultural context of faith‐based communities in order to be effective in preventing institutional child sexual abuse.

“It's a preventable type of harm”: Evidence-based strategies to prevent sexual abuse in schools

The last two decades have seen global public recognition of the scale and impact of adult-perpetrated institutional child sexual abuse. A sizeable body of knowledge about generalized safeguarding measures has since been generated to inform organizations' prevention efforts. Apparent in the extant literature, however, is a notable lack of evidence-based and context-specific prevention strategies targeting perpetration in distinct institutional environments. This absence extends to educational settings where most reported contemporary cases occur or originate. The recommendations outlined in this article contribute to this gap. Derived from empirical findings establishing the role of context-specific rather than person-specific factors, a range of prevention strategies framed by Situational Crime Prevention are proposed for secondary educational settings. These recommendations are supplemented by the unique insights of interviewed experts with specialist professional knowledge. Recommendations center around targeting features of the environment such as high-risk locations, available guardians, and intimacy-promoting situations available in educational contexts. Taken together, this robust prevention and control agenda can create conditions for safer educational environments.

Supporting survivors of institutional child sexual abuse during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A qualitative study of not‐for‐profit community and legal organisations in Greater Western Sydney

AbstractBefore, during and since the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2013–2017), not‐for‐profit community and legal services have been critical in supporting survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. This qualitative study aimed to explore the perspectives of community and legal service practitioners operating in Greater Western Sydney regarding the ongoing impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the service system for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 21 practitioners at 15 community and legal services. Through thematic analysis, the study identified five areas of concern regarding service provision and COVID‐19, including difficulties in navigating shifts to remote service delivery; changes in service accessibility; complications in accessing the National Redress Scheme; safety challenges for clients; and safety challenges for practitioners. The research identified a need for services to finesse frameworks that ensure remote services can be delivered safely for clients and practitioners alike. Priorities include adequate funding for technology and infrastructure, supporting survivors of abuse perpetrated online and encouraging effective coping strategies for practitioners who undertake trauma support work from home. Future research should consider how shifts to remote service delivery have impacted survivors of different demographic groups and the survivor support workforce.

The Work of Acknowledgment: ‘Loud Fence’ as Community-Level Response to Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Testimony

Since the 1980s, the global dimensions of institutional child sexual abuse have become increasingly apparent. In some countries this has had a profound impact locally. In Australia, one such place has been the storied town of Ballarat. Throughout Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Ballarat became a significant focus of the Inquiry. As local abuse became clearer, colourful ribbons began appearing at sites throughout the town. This article investigates the meaning of such a response, and its role in relation to survivor testimony. Transforming into a movement that persists to this day, the effect is to reconsolidate a community's ‘difficult heritage’ of institutional abuse into a more celebrated story of rebellion and protest. The originality of the article stems from the contribution it makes to understanding community-level responses to institutional abuse, and the role of ritual in the formation of collective memory.

A Scoping Review of Psychological Assessment in Mission and Ministry Candidates

Missionary attrition together with the problem of institutional child sexual abuse in the Church has highlighted the importance of a standardized psychological assessment process for mission and ministry candidates. This scoping review aimed to examine peer-reviewed publications, from 2001 to 2021, which focused on the psychological assessment of ministry and cross-cultural mission candidates, to find knowledge gaps that exist. Using scoping review guidelines, 6,739 references were identified and 2,476 duplicates were removed. A further 4,254 references were excluded because they did not meet screening criteria. A total of nine high-quality articles remained, together with five articles that were added based on the bibliography of these references. This scoping review found the few papers published either focused on the use of personality tests or made recommendations about how these assessments should be conducted. The studies reported that candidates for ministry and mission in US samples have normative personality profiles regardless of age or ethnicity. Other papers reviewed knowledge and opinion and highlighted the need for screening for psychosexual development and to prevent attrition in mission and ministry roles. The overall dearth of publications suggested a need for more international research into how to standardize and utilize psychological assessments.

Why Didn’t They Intervene? Examining the Role of Guardianship in Preventing Institutional Child Sexual Abuse

ABSTRACT In recent years, the failings of institutions to safeguard children from sexual abuse have been brought to light through investigations and commissions of inquiries such as Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The role of adults as guardians, to protect children within these institutions, has been afforded particular scrutiny, highlighting past ineffective and harmful intervention and responses to abuse, and even inaction. Despite this attention, limited research to date has explored the barriers underpinning guardianship behavior in this setting. Enhanced understanding of the potential barriers to guardianship is key for informing improved guardianship behavior in the future. Using data from Australia’s Royal Commission, this study applies Reynald’s (2010) model of capable guardianship to investigate dimensions of guardianship in youth-serving institutional settings. Three discrete settings were examined: outside school hours care, schools, and sporting institutions. Results support the utility of Reynald’s (2010) model for advancing knowledge about guardianship behavior in youth-serving institutions, providing valuable lessons for future policy directions, to enhance safeguarding practices.

The Impact of Critical Life Points and Events for Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse: Understanding Trauma and the Role of Compensation in Recovery.

Although the impact of child sexual abuse (CSA) is well documented in the international literature, little is known about the critical points of recovery across the life course for survivors of institutional CSA. The aim of this study was to identify critical points, or events across the life course that may increase, or decrease, a survivor's vulnerability to the complex traumatization of institutional CSA (ICSA). The sample consisted of two hundred and forty-eight witness statements extracted from the 56 publicly available case studies presented to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse during 2013-2016 (Commonwealth of Australia, 2017). A content analysis and thematic coding of the statements identified seven main themes in the witness statements (Gender, Organization, Triggers, Trauma, Mental Health, Intervention and Compensation), that appeared to be critical events across the life course. The themes were transformed into variables for further analysis using SPSS. Significant Likelihood Ratios were found between associations with the organization where the abuse occurred and between triggers and breastfeeding/sensory, breast feeding/childcare, emotional and physical distress, and mental health (p < 0.01). Significant associations were also found between receiving compensation for the CSA and triggers, trauma, breast feeding-sensory and childcare (p < 0.05) and gender and breast feeding (p < 0.05). Overall, the findings showed that triggers can be random across the life course occurring mainly through indirect association, or in situations that evoke memories of the CSA, and that receiving compensation can assist survivors in their recovery journey. The findings also indicate the need for health care professionals to be aware of the critical points in a CSA survivor's recovery and how triggers may impact on their mental welling throughout the life course.

Psychometric Testing and Semantic Validation of Child Abuse Screening Tool in Urdu Language

Child abuse screening tool (CAST) has been used broadly for measuring maltreatment against children. The present study aimed to translate and validate the Child Abuse Screening Tool for two main purposes. Firstly, this scale was translated to use it as a screening tool for the abused children. Secondly, to determine concurrent validity of indigenous Child Abuse Scale (Malik &amp; Shah, 2007) Revision by Malik and Saeed (2014). The Child Abuse Scale Revised was altered to address issues related to child abuse and sexual abuse in educational institutions, home, work place, by relatives, stranagers and servants. The scale was translated using standardized procedure of forward and backward translation. Confirmatory factor analysis was run to examine the factorial structure of Urdu translation of the scale. Convergent and discriminant analysis revealed construct validity of CAST. The results of CFA show adequate model fit; supporting the five factor solution of original scale. Thus, reliability and validity analysis indicated that the Urdu translated CAST scale is a valid and reliable tool for screening abused children in Pakistan.Keywords: abuse, translation, validity, child maltreatment, Urdu

Enduring silence: racialized news values, white supremacy and a national apology for child sexual abuse

ABSTRACT This article examines news coverage of Australia's 2018 National Apology to Victims of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse to reveal how conventional news values and practices produce racialised hierarchies of media attention that routinely position whiteness at the pinnacle. Via content analysis of media coverage, informed by critical discourse analysis, we focus on whether news reporting of the Apology reflected the Royal Commission's stated commitment, care and attention to ensuring First Nations people, who were over-represented among victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, were afforded voice and agency in media. The coverage was remarkable for its failure to connect the 2018 Apology to the 2008 Apology to the Stolen Generations, or to ongoing concerns regarding high rates of Indigenous child removal and over-incarceration. Overall, we argue that news values and routines work to structure media representation through logics of white supremacy and relegating colonial violence to the past.

How do Jewish Community Leadership Bodies Respond to Manifestations of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse? A Case Study of Malka Leifer

How do Jewish Community Leadership Bodies Respond to Manifestations of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse? A Case Study of Malka Leifer

Public Attitudes Toward Institutional Child Sexual Abuse in Israel: The Case of Malka Leifer

This study examined Israeli public perceptions of institutional child sexual abuse (CSA) in the Malka Leifer case. Leifer is a Jewish ultra-Orthodox former Melbourne school principal who is wanted in Australia on CSA charges, after fleeing to Israel. Based on a qualitative analysis of 2,451 reader comments retrieved from four Israeli news websites and six public Facebook pages, the findings indicated diverse attitudes toward the alleged perpetrator, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, state authorities, and victims. All parties involved were criticized, but less so the victims. Criticisms included sociopolitical and gender stereotypes, and demonic attributions. Positive comments were directed at all involved, even the alleged perpetrator, and especially the victims. The results demonstrate the need to better understand CSA portrayals in cyberspace, as they affect both public and policymaker attitudes, and the importance of fighting prejudicial discourse about the ultra-Orthodox community, especially in light of its changing attitudes regarding CSA.

Child sexual abuse in religious institutions: A comparative study based on sentences in Spain

Child sexual abuse is a global problem that has several physical and psychological health implications for the victims. This study aimed to analyse the way criminal courts respond to allegations of child sexual abuse in religious institutions in Spain compared with cases of abuse committed in other institutional contexts. The sample is composed of 97 abusers from three institutional settings (religious institutions, educational centres, sports centres), responsible for a total of 335 child sexual abuse victims. Some of the results are similar to those found in other countries regarding the sex and age of the victims. There is a predominance of abuse involving bodily contact but without penetration, the abusers’ profiles are diverse, high exposure to minors was paramount as a risk factor, and there is a higher prevalence of diocesan priest abusers compared with members of religious orders. Significant differences were found between the three institutional groups (that is, religious, educational, and sports) in terms of penalties and civil compensation orders imposed on the abusers. The criminal courts consider sexual abuse committed by religious leaders to be a more severe form of the crime compared with abuse committed in other environments. Our study also revealed that several factors substantially influence the criminal courts’ response (for example, proven psychological harm, continuing crime, and the act of penetration), resulting in longer prison sentences and higher civil compensation. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Trauma in Our Town: Exploring Intergenerational Impacts of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse

Trauma in Our Town: Exploring Intergenerational Impacts of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse

Victims/Survivors’ Perceptions of Helpful Institutional Responses to Incidents of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse

ABSTRACT Like in many countries, the Australian Government has conducted an inquiry into child sexual abuse that occurred in institutional settings (The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse). Drawing on the findings from a qualitative study commissioned by the Royal Commission, this paper explores the perceptions of victim/survivors 1 1 The term ‘victim’ is used within the criminal justice system and the term ‘survivor’ can be used as to denote recovery and empowerment, so we use them interchangeably throughout. of the ways in which institutions (or individuals within them) responded supportively when sexual abuse was reported. While researchers and inquiries have reported on inadequacy of institutional responses, this paper addresses a research gap by investigating responses that victims/survivors perceived as helpful, while mindful of the overwhelmingly negative nature of their experiences. The paper contributes to the literature on institutional responses to child sexual abuse methodologically – by reporting on the challenges of a study of this type – and theoretically, by proposing a framework indicating how different helpful elements of an institutional response to child sexual abuse relate to each other in the victim/survivors’ experiences. The findings are relevant for research on best practice in institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

The discursive production of public inquiries: The case of Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Since the turn of the century, public inquiries into the perpetration and concealment of child sexual abuse within religious institutions have proliferated throughout Europe, North America and Australasia. This article examines the role that news media discourses might play in supporting this trend. Taking Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse as a case study, I compare how news media constructed its precipitating issue of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church at two different points in time: the period surrounding the announcement of the Royal Commission and a period 10 years earlier when calls were made for a Royal Commission that were not actualised. I find that in the decade before the Royal Commission’s establishment news media deemed the Church capable of and responsible for delivering justice, and as such licensed it to respond to allegations of abuse internally. In the period surrounding the Royal Commission’s establishment, however, the Church was rendered complicit and had lost its authority to manage the issue internally, while the State had become marked as responsible for recourse instead. This suggests that the emergence of the Royal Commission was imbricated in broader discursive shifts regarding which institution was attributed the right and responsibility to respond. These findings both indicate that news media discourses may play a role in facilitating or inhibiting the emergence of public inquiries and also raise critical questions about the consequences of a discursive shift that centres the State as responsible for and capable of delivering justice in the aftermath of institutional child sexual abuse.

Australian Civil Litigation Reform in Response to the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse

It has been four years since the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released its final Redress and Civil Litigation Report making recommendations for civil liability reform to improve the capacity of survivors of institutional child sexual abuse to recover civil compensation. Legislative responses to the recommendations have differed across Australian jurisdictions. This article compares the reforms that have been enacted to date. It offers an analysis of the scope and application of the legislation and identifies significant omissions and obstacles to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse bringing actions for civil damages.

Classifying the monster: the erasure of familial child sexual abuse in the Wood Royal Commission Paedophile Inquiry

ABSTRACT Since the 1980s there has been a transformation in understandings of institutional child sexual abuse. While these developments have been long overdue, shifts in understanding other forms of child abuse and neglect have been much more incremental. This is particularly true of abuse occurring in the family. This article examines the Wood Royal Commission, which operated from 1994 until 1997 in the Australian state of New South Wales. Unlike inquiries into institutional child sexual abuse, its scope was not limited in terms of the scenarios of abuse that it investigated. Notwithstanding this, a flawed approach saw it effectively erase familial abuse as a sufficient matter of concern. While scholarly research on royal commissions frequently points to an inquiry’s terms of reference, or the failure of governments to implement recommendations in an inquiry’s aftermath, the Wood Royal Commission reveals a failure in investigative decision making. By positioning this Royal Commission within the broader terrain of public inquiries into child sexual abuse, I demonstrate how intrafamilial abuse continues to be neglected.

Unravelling Redress for Institutional Abuse of Children in Australia

This article chronicles the evolution of Australia’s National Redress Scheme for institutional child sexual abuse. It provides a comprehensive analysis of what occurred from the release of the Royal Commission’s redress recommendations in September 2015 to early July 2019, capturing the twists and turns of legislative changes, government statements, and media stories. We chart the parliamentary processes that culminated in the scheme’s commencement on 1 July 2018 and analyse the changing treatment of 17 contentious matters at the heart of the scheme. Constitutional limits on federal power meant that federal and state governments had to negotiate and compromise in creating a single national scheme. In the process, the redress scheme unravelled: 14 of 17 matters shifted moderately or significantly away from the Royal Commission’s recommendations and redress principles. Future changes to the scheme will require substantial renegotiations and a shift in position on increased costs.