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White Paper Survey and Analysis of the Written Child Protection Policies of the 32 U.S

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White Paper Survey and Analysis of the Written Child Protection Policies of the 32 U.S CHILD USA White Paper on Policies of 32 U.S. Roman Catholic Archdioceses Release Date: 10/01/2020 White Paper Survey and Analysis of the Written Child Protection Policies of the 32 U.S. Roman Catholic Archdioceses By: Marci A. Hamilton, Esq, CEO Stephanie Dallam, Ph.D., lead investigator Sabine Glocker, Esq. CHILD USA 3508 Market Street, Suite 202 Philadelphia, PA 19104 [email protected] (215) 539-1906 CHILD USA White Paper on Policies of 32 U.S. Roman Catholic Archdioceses Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1 II. PURPOSE .................................................................................................................................. 9 III. REVIEW OF DOCUMENTS ................................................................................................. 10 IV. LIMITATIONS OF THE REVIEW ....................................................................................... 11 V. BACKGROUND OF CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE CRISIS .................................................. 11 VI. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................. 20 VII. RESULTS .............................................................................................................................. 24 A. General Results .................................................................................................................... 24 VIII. HOW INDIVIDUAL POLICIES COMPARE ACROSS ARCHDIOCESES ..................... 28 A. Child Abuse Prevention Domain ......................................................................................... 28 1. Background Screening Policies ........................................................................................ 28 2. Child Abuse Prevention Training Policies ........................................................................ 35 3. Code of Conduct Policies.................................................................................................. 40 4. Sex Offender Policies ....................................................................................................... 48 B. The Detection and Reporting Domain ................................................................................. 51 1. Policies on Reporting Abuse to Civil Authorities ...................................................... 51 2. Whistleblower Protection Policies.............................................................................. 58 C. Response to Victims Domain ............................................................................................... 60 1. Victim Assistance Policies ......................................................................................... 60 2. Victims' Rights Policies .............................................................................................. 65 3. Public Transparency Policies ...................................................................................... 70 D. Domain of Investigational Process and Response to Allegations of Abuse ........................ 75 1. Review Board Policies................................................................................................ 76 2. Policies on Conducting Investigations ....................................................................... 81 3. Handling Evidence Policies ........................................................................................ 88 4. Response to Substantiated Allegations of Abuse Policies.......................................... 89 5. Policies on Responding to Credible Allegations of Abuse that Cannot Be Substantiated ......................................................................................................................... 93 IX. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................... 97 X. APPENDICES ....................................................................................................................... 105 Appendix A. List of the 32 U.S. Archdioceses ...................................................................... 106 Appendix B: Policy Analysis Tool ......................................................................................... 107 CHILD USA White Paper on Policies of 32 U.S. Roman Catholic Archdioceses List of Figures Figure 1. Government Investigations into Child Sexual Abuse in Catholic Dioceses ................... 3 Figure 2. Grand Jury Investigations as of 2018 .............................................................................. 4 Figure 3. Number of Civil Suits Filed During Revival Windows in California and New York .... 5 Figure 4. The Relationship between Domains and Policies ......................................................... 20 Figure 5. Archdiocese's Performance in Each Domain ................................................................ 27 Figure 6. Policies on Background Screening ................................................................................ 29 Figure 7. Policies on Child Abuse Prevention Training ............................................................... 36 Figure 8. Code of Conduct ............................................................................................................ 41 Figure 9. Policies on Reporting Abuse to Civil Authorities ......................................................... 52 Figure 10. Victim Assistance Policies .......................................................................................... 61 Figure 11. Victim Rights............................................................................................................... 67 Figure 12. Policies on Public Transparency ................................................................................. 71 Figure 13. Review Board Policies ................................................................................................ 77 Figure 14. Policies on Conducting Investigations ........................................................................ 83 Figure 15. Policies on Responding to Substantiated Allegations of Abuse .................................. 90 Figure 16. Response to Credible Allegations of Abuse that Can Not be Substantiated .............. 94 CHILD USA White Paper on Policies of 32 U.S. Roman Catholic Archdioceses White Paper Survey and Analysis of the Written Child Protection Policies of the 32 U.S. Roman Catholic Archdioceses This White Paper was conceived, drafted, and sponsored by CHILD USA, under the direction of Prof. Marci Hamilton, CEO. The social science research was conducted by Stephanie Dallam, PhD, (Lead Investigator), who devised the novel investigative “Tool”, and Sabine Glocker, Esq. CHILD USA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit think tank that conducts evidence- based social science research and pairs it with cutting edge legal analysis to improve laws and policies dealing with child abuse and neglect. It is the leading nonprofit think tank working to end child abuse and neglect in the United States. 1. INTRODUCTION For 35 years, the Roman Catholic Church in the United States has felt internal and external pressure to address the problem of child sex abuse in the institution. In 1985, Thomas Doyle and Ray Mouton issued a document that was circulated internally to the bishops, entitled The Problem of Sexual Molestation by Roman Catholic Clergy: Meeting the Problem in a Comprehensive and Responsible Manner.1 Jason Berry took the issues to the public when he published the first major book on the issue in 1992, Lead Us Not into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children. Seven years later, the Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigative team issued its groundbreaking report on the cover up in the Roman Catholic Church’s Boston Archdiocese.2 The Globe identified what would become known as a paradigm 1 https://www.bishop-accountability.org/reports/1985_06_09_Doyle_Manual/ 2 See, Carroll, M., Pfeiffer, S., & Rezendes, M. (2002, Jan. 6). Church allowed abuse by priest for years. Boston Globe. Retrieved from https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/special-reports/2002/01/06/church-allowed- abusepriest-for-years/cSHfGkTIrAT25qKGvBuDNM/story.html 1 CHILD USA White Paper on Policies of 32 U.S. Roman Catholic Archdioceses of child endangerment within the Church: (1) priests had access to children alone in numerous settings and the absolute trust of their parents; (2) when bishops learned about a child having been sexually abused by a priest, they did not alert the authorities, and instead moved the priest to a new parish, diocese, or state; and (3) the predatory priest thus had seriatim opportunities to sexually abuse children. In short, this was a systemic problem, not one that could be attributed to a few rogue priests. While the effects of sexual abuse vary and are individual in nature, in many cases survivors have endured profound spiritual, psychological and/or physical injuries, and in some cases, a lifetime of debilitating problems. Every act of abuse constitutes a breach of the trust placed in the abusers by the victims and their families. As survivors were empowered and the media became more proactive in its coverage, pleas for justice for the survivors and reform of the Church’s child protection policies emerged. The legal system has played a pivotal role in bringing the United States Roman Catholic Church to account for its criminal mishandling
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