Details

This Inquiry was a the first major study of clerical child sex abuse in America, established following a massive child sex abuse scandal uncovered in Boston in early 2002.

In June 2002 the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops agreed on a Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People at a general meeting in Texas. That Charter created a National Review Board charged with the responsibility of gauging the nature and scope of the problem.

The Board appointed John Jay College of Criminal Justice to examine the number and nature of child sex abuse allegations against Catholic priests between 1950 and 2002, while also collecting information about the alleged abusers and their victims, and the financial impact of this abuse on the Church.

The Process
John Jay College of Criminal Justice mailed three separate surveys to each diocese, eparchy and religious community related to the Catholic Church in the United States. One survey (The Diocesan Profile) focussed on the institution as a whole, another (The Cleric Survey) on the priest accused of abuse, while a third survey (The Victim Survey) was devoted to each abuse allegation.

The data was collected between March 2003 and February 2004, with 195 of the 202 dioceses and orders who were contacted responding. It was then analysed by John Jay College and considered in conjunction with a major literature review of child sexual abuse. The findings were summarised in a final report.

Governing Legislation
There was no governing legislation for this inquiry.

Governing Authority
This was research conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, commissioned and paid for by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. John Jay College was appointed by a National Review Board mandated to investigate the issue of clergy and child sexual abuse through Article 9 of a Charter agreed to by the Bishops in June 2002.

Inquiry Locations
Data for the inquiry was collected across the United States. John Jay College, which conducted the study, is based in New York.

Public Hearings
There were no public hearings as part of this study.

Private Sessions
No private sessions were held as part of this inquiry.

Case Studies
For confidentiality reasons, individual institutions were not singled out as case studies and, in fact, the data studied by John Jay College was stripped of any information that could identify an individual institution or person.

Written Submissions
Written submissions, in the form of surveys, were received from 195 dioceses.

Research
The inquiry was a major research program undertaken by John Jay College on behalf of the United States Catholic College of Bishops, including three major surveys and a literature review.

Witnesses
Representatives of 195 dioceses provided evidence through surveys.

Gender
The report uncovered allegations of abuse made by 8,499 males, 2,004 females and two transgender persons.

Institutions
195 dioceses are considered in the report although are not singled out individually.

Findings
The Nature and Scope report revealed how widespread the problem of child sexual abuse by clergy was in the United States. Its findings included:

The priests: More than 95% of dioceses and around 60% of religious communities had been affected. Accusations had been made against 4,392 Catholic priests and deacons, representing approximately 4% of Catholic priests active between 1950 and 2002. Most of these priests were ordained between the 1950s and 1970s and were aged in their 30s.

The incidents: About 75% of the alleged incidents occurred between 1960 and 1984, peaking in the 1970s. Two-thirds of the allegations were made after 1993, with one-third concentrated in 2002-2003. Of the incidents reported in the surveys, 72% had been investigated and, of those, 80% were substantiated.

Very few of the incidents had been reported to police. Police investigated most incidents that were reported to them, however, only one in three priests investigated was charged with a crime and only 3% of priests accused of child sexual abuse served time in prison. About 37% of those accused had participated in treatment programs.

The victims: Four out of five victims were male, and most were post-pubescent.

The cost: Although there were difficulties identifying the exact figure that the Catholic Church had paid as a result of allegations, including costs relating to compensation, treatment and legal representation, the report authors estimated it to be over $500 million.

The Supplementary report: The Supplementary Data Analysis report released two years later based on further analysis of the data drew a number of further conclusions. Some of the findings included:

• The case of Rev. Gilbert Gauthe in 1985, and the Catholic Church's response to this, coincided with a decrease in reported child sex abuse incidents and that the press coverage of the controversies of 2002 led many individuals to come forward.
• Dioceses that responded quickly and effectively to abuse allegations did not have as many abuse reports and those that were made were less severe.
• The level of abusive behaviour was reasonably consistent across 13 of the 14 Catholic dioceses, but that one region had almost twice as many incidents as the others.

Recommendations
The Nature and Scope study and the Supplementary Data Analysis report did not make recommendations, although in the preface of the Nature and Scope report, John Jay College President Gerald W. Lynch expressed the report authors' hope that the inquiry had helped bring about a better understanding of abuse which would in turn lead to measures which would reduce the chance of future abuse.

Recommendations relating to this report were contained in the companion report written by the National Review Board. They included calls for further research around the causes and context of abuse; better screening of clergy candidates and oversight of priests; improved responses to allegations and interactions with civil authorities; as well as improved accountability transparency.

Cost
Although the cost of the inquiry is not reported in the official publications of Nature and Scope or in the media, the CV of principal investigator Karen Terry indicates that Phase I of the study cost $423,756, and Phase II, $99,354.

Further Action
Following the Nature and Scope study, John Jay College conducted a second study for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops examining why the abuse occurred in the way that it did.

The Catholic Church in the United States made a number of changes following the publication of the report from this inquiry, as a result of the report, the Charter agreed upon in Dallas and broader shifts within the Catholic church in North America and globally. Its handling of child sexual abuse allegations, however, continues to be plagued by controversy.

Related Inquiries
This inquiry was connected to the National Review Board's own inquiry, which drew from the findings of the Nature and Scope study as well as interviews with 85 people, including church leaders, victims of abuse and medical professionals.

Inquiry Panel

• Galietta, Michele
• Leland Smith, Margaret
• Levin, James
• O'Connor, Maureen
• Penrod, Steven
• Schlesinger, Louis
• Tallon, Jennifer
• Terry, Karen, J.