Framing Clergy Sexual Abuse as an Institutional Failure: How Tort Litigation Influences Media Coverage
17 Pages Posted: 24 Apr 2010
Date Written: April 22, 2010
Abstract
Tort litigation against the Catholic Church is largely responsible for the widespread understanding of clergy sexual abuse as an institutional failure on the part of Church officials. This essay focuses on three features of tort litigation that explain why it exerts such a powerful influence on the framing of clergy sexual abuse. The article concludes with a brief discussion of two implications of the analysis, one for the current controversy over tort reform and the other for our understanding of child sexual abuse in institutional settings.
Keywords: torts, clergy sexual abuse
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Lytton, Timothy D., Framing Clergy Sexual Abuse as an Institutional Failure: How Tort Litigation Influences Media Coverage (April 22, 2010). William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1594503
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