Child Sexual Abuse in the Anglican Church of Australia

Abstract

This article reports on a retrospective study of cases of complaints of child sexual abuse made against clergy, other employed pastoral staff and volunteers in the Anglican Church of Australia between 1990 and 2008. The study was conducted on the invitation of the Anglican Church of Australia. There were 191 allegations of sexual abuse made by 180 complainants against 135 individuals. Twenty seven of those 135 had more than one complaint made against them. Three quarters of all complainants were male. The most likely explanation for the large proportion of abused males is that the church gives many more opportunities for abusers to be alone with boys than with girls. Prevention strategies need to focus on reducing the opportunities for abuse to occur, as well strategies concerning the recruitment of professional staff and volunteers.

Keywords: Child sexual abuse, churches, sex offenders, prevention

JEL Classification: K10, K30