CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE : A Review o f the Literature The John Jay College Research Team KAREN J . TERRY, Ph .D . Principal Investigator JENNIFER TALLON Primary Researcher PART I - LITERATURE REVIEW his literature review provides the reader with an overview of major academic works concerning child sexual abuse in the general population . This is a comprehensive review of the available literature, though it is not a meta-analysis (a synthesis of research results using various statistical methods to Tretrieve, select, and combine results from previous studies) . During the course of the past thirty years, the field of sex offender research has expanded and become increasingly inter-disciplinary . It would be nearly impossible to review every piece of information relating to the topic of child sexual abuse . Instead, this is a compilation of information pertaining to theories, typologies and treatments that have attained general acceptance within the scientific community. I In reviewing the literature concerning sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, the amount of empirical research was limited, and many of the studies suffered from methodological flaws . Additionally, much of the literature consisted of either anecdotal information or impassioned arguments employed by various researchers when characterizing the responses of the church to this incendiary issue . In providing the reader with a comprehensive review, it was necessary to summarize every point of view no matter how controver- sial. Any of the ideas expressed in this review should not be considered indicative of the point of view of either the researchers at John Jay College of Criminal justice, or the Catholic Church . One aim of this literature review is to put into perspective the problem of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church as compared to its occurrence in other institutions and organizations . However, there is little or no empirical data pertaining to the true prevalence of sexual abuse within most other organizations . For this rea- son, the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church is difficult to contextualize because there is no basis for comparison in any group, including the general population . Some journalists have conducted research on sexual abuse in particular organizations, such as the Boy Scouts . Though this work is an important step in studying the problem, it is not comprehensive in nature and more empirical work should be conducted on institutions that cater to children . Though not empirical in nature, this literature review does contain an overview of published newspaper articles on child sexual abuse in specific organizations . c. 753 ESTIMATES OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE Figure 1 OVERVIEW National Child Sexual Abuse Rate, 1992-2001 250 The estimation of any form of deviance in the gen- 0 eral population is a very difficult task . It is impossi- 200 ble to assess the extent of sexual offending, either in general or with children as targets . Most estimates 350 of the distribution of sexual offenders in the general S population are derived from forensic sources, that 100 a is, samples of those who are arrested or convicted for sex offenses . All researchers acknowledge that 50 those who are arrested represent only a fraction of all sexual offenders . Sexual crimes have the lowest 0 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1993 3999 2000 2001 rates of reporting for all crimes . Not all potential 1992 participants in such studies can be known or con- tacted, not all would use the same language to describe their experiences, and not all are willing to It is important to note that social service agencies share information . The sexual abuse of children by and criminal justice institutions each only capture Catholic priests and deacons is part of the larger part of the picture . Incidents or events involving the problem of sexual abuse of children in the United sexual abuse of children may be reported directly to States . This chapter is a summary of the estimates the police and/or may come to the attention of the of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church as well staff of social service agencies . It is important to as the general population . acknowledge that many such incidents may not generate any official report at all . CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL SERVICE ESTIMATES OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE As a part of the work on the Study, state-level crim- Child sexual abuse data has been collected annually inal justice data on the prevalence of child sexual since 1992 through the National Child Abuse and abuse were sought from all SO states and the Neglect Data System (NCANDS) of the Federal District of Columbia . The agencies were asked for: Department of Health and Human Services . These 1) the number of offenders arrested for sex crimes data are based on incident-level reports gathered against children for a series of years, 2) the number from state child protective services and agencies and of child victims of sexual assault or abuse, 3) demo- are published in an annual report . The publication graphic information for both offenders and victims, Child Maltreatment, which is released annually, and 4) conviction rates of those offenders arrested reports incident-based allegations per state along for child sexual abuse/assault . Of 49 states, only 13 with census-based estimates of the population of had criminal justice system data available . Those children younger than 18 . Child sexual abuse is states that have implemented the National Incident- defined as "maltreatment that involves the child in Based Reporting System (NIBRS), which collects sexual activity to provide sexual gratification or crime information at the incident level and includes financial benefit to the perpetrator" (Child victim age, were able to provide the requested data, Maltreatment, 2001) . Child maltreatment reports if only for the most recent year . NIBRS collects data show a decline in reported incidents from 1992 to on the following types of sex crimes : forcible rape, 2001 for all reporting states . Figure 1 shows the inci- forcible sodomy, sexual assault with an object, dent data expressed as a rate per 100,000 children . forcible fondling, incest and statutory rape . Figure 2 shows the percent of the total child popula- tion who have been victims of child sexual abuse . 154 Figure 2 DELAWARE Delaware's criminal justice data Child Victims of Sexual Abuse as a reported 510 child victims of sexual assault Percentage of Child Population, 1992-2001 crimes in 1995, for a rate of 285 per 100,000 9.n% children . This data was taken from a report requested by the Attorney General's Task Force Y 0 .30% on Child Victims and includes all known inci- dents of sexual assault against children where an 015% arrest occurred . In contrast, the NCANDS report for 1995 shows only 200 incidents, for a rate of 0.10% 112 per 100,000 children . t CALIFORNIA A total of 13,075 offenders were u convicted of sex crimes against children in the state of California for the year 2001, for a rate of 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 1999 7W0 7001 141 sexual abuse convictions per 100,000 chil- dren . The NCANDS rate for the same year is In the summaries below, this criminal justice data 112 sexual abuse incidents per 100,000 children . from NIBRS is compared to the NCANDS data . These comparisons generally show that state crimi- IDAHO NIBRS data shows that in 2001 there nal justice systems are reporting considerably more were 1,363 victims of child sexual abuse known incidents of sexual abuse than the social service to the state criminal justice system, for a rate of . The NCANDS agencies . The decline shown in the charts on the 363 victims per 100,000 children previous page may therefore be a result of a change rate is much smaller -295 known child victims, in the patterns of response by victims' families, with for a rate of 79 per 100,000 children . more incidents now being reported to the police . IOWA The NIBRS data set for Iowa shows that It should be noted that some discrepancies were in 2001 there were 1,454 child victims of sex found between the NCANDS data and the data crimes, for a rate of 198 victims per 100,000 obtained from the state social service agency for the children . The NCANDS data reports 1,031 vic- same year. One explanation for this may be due to tims, or a rate of 141 incidents per 100,000 chil- the fact that NCANDS collects data from a calen- dren. dar year period and some state agencies collect data from a fiscal year period when publishing their own MICHIGAN Michigan's NIBRS data set indi- reports. Additionally, some data - such as that from cates a total of 1,812 rape victims who were California - are taken from the Offender Based infants or children up to age 14, and another Transaction Statistics System where only those 1,269 rape victims who were children between offenders who have received a "final disposition" 15 and 19 years old . In contrast, the 2001 are included ; therefore, these numbers may be sub- NCANDS data reported 1,656 incidents of sex- stantially smaller than a count of arrests for child ual abuse on children 19 and under . sexual abuse would be . SOUTH CAROLINA South Carolina's NIBRS ALABAMA There were 632 child rapes reported data indicates that in 2000 there were 2,438 to the Alabama state criminal justice agency in child victims (infants to children 16 years old) of 2001, for a reported rate of 56 per 100,000 chil- forcible sex crimes . The NCANDS data reports . dren . The NCANDS rate for all incidents of 610 incidents of child sexual abuse in 2002 abuse is 174 per 100,000 children .