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White, M., & Terry, K. J. (2008). Child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church: Revisting the rotten apples explanation. Criminal Justice & Behavior, 35(5), 658-678

Summary: The Catholic Church response to its sexual abuse crisis and how the problem should be addressed parallels the “rotten apple” assertions of police deviance. The rotten apple theory, however, does not fully explain police deviance, as there are often also structural explanations. This article employs Kappeler, Sluder, and Alpert's (1998) police deviance framework to characterize and understand the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, drawing specific comparisons to the intentional use of excessive force by police. Though the analogy has limitations, there are similarities at both the individual and organizational levels, particularly because the Church has implemented accountability mechanisms similar to the police. The article concludes with a discussion of lessons the Church can learn from the police organization as they seek to prevent, control, and effectively respond to sexual abuse of children by their clergy.

Questions to consider: 

1. How does sexual abuse in the Catholic Church compare to police deviance? Which explanations can be applied to both of these issues?
    
2. What was the Church’s response to abuse accusations? Why was this problematic?
    
3. Consider the ‘rotten apple’ explanation being discussed by the authors. Does it accurately provide an explanation for the abuses in the Catholic Church? Why or why not?
    

Terry, K. J. (2008). Stained glass: The nature and scope of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35(5), 549-569. 

Summary: This article presents the results of the Nature and Scope of Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Priests from 1950 to 2002. Ninety-seven percent of dioceses (representing 99% of diocesan priests) and 64% of religious communities (representing 83% of religious priests) responded to the request for data. Findings showed that 4,392 priests (4%) had allegations of abuse, 10,667 victims made allegations, and the Church paid (at the time surveys were completed) $572.5 million for legal and treatment fees and as compensation to the victims (more than $1.3 billion to date). The study also provided information on the circumstances of the abuse (e.g., types of sexual acts, location, duration), the offenders (e.g., year of ordination, age, ministry duties, other behavioral problems), the victims (e.g., age and gender, family situation), and the dioceses (e.g., differences in abuse rates by region and population size). Importance of these results for policy and practice is discussed 

Questions to consider:

1. Why is difficult to identify the rate of child sexual abuse committed by religious officials?
    
2. What was the Church’s common response to abusers? How does this demonstrate corruption?
    
3. Who were the most common victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church? Why were these victims selected?