The Nature and Scope of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States, 1950–2002
A study commissioned by the lay National Review Board of the United States Catholic bishops. From surveys of church records it counts the priests accused of sexually abusing minors between 1950 and 2002 and those who accused them.
The executive summary explains how the study came about. The bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, adopted in June 2002, created a National Review Board of lay people and told it to commission a descriptive study; the board turned to John Jay College. Data were collected from March 2003 to February 2004 by surveys sent to dioceses and religious communities, and 195 dioceses and 140 religious communities answered.
The figures are therefore counts of allegations recorded in church files, reported by the church bodies themselves and stripped of identifying details before the researchers saw them. The report says that it cannot tell what share of all abuse was ever reported to the church, and that allegations for recent years were likely still to come.
Cited in
- 6 January 2002, firm date