Intimate perceptions:
Exploring justice from the perspective of Australian survivors of Clergy
Sexual Violence
Dr Jodi Death
QUT School of Justice
Crime and Justice Research Centre
American Society of Criminology Conference 2013
• Child sexual abuse (CSA) by clergy is a recognised international
phenomena
• A number of State based Inquiries have occurred including in:
– Ireland
– United Kingdom
– The Netherlands
– Belgium
• Other notable studies include
– John Jay studies
– Chung and Olsen’s Anglican Brisbane Diocese study
– Parkinson’s Anglican Church Study (Australia)
• Australia had 3 notable State inquiries:
– The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the
Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other
Organisations (the Victorian Inquiry)
– Special Commission of Inquiry Concerning the
Investigation of Certain Child Sexual Abuse
Allegations in the Hunter Region (the Hunter
Inquiry)
– the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses
to Child Sexual Abuse (the Royal Commission)
• Key research questions?
1. How do survivors construct ‘justice’ in
relation to state inquiries?
2. How do relationships with the state and
Christian institutions interact with survivors
concepts of self?
• Data for analysis:
– 16 semi-structured interviews with survivors of CSA by
personnel in Christian Institutions (PICI’s)
– Victorian Inquiry
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36 individual submissions to the
16 submissions from survivor’s support groups
18 submissions from religious bodies/representatives
Plus submissions from community groups, legal
representatives and NGO’s
• Transcripts from 39 sessions of the Inquiry
• Report of the Inquiry (released November 2013)
• Justice constructed in multiple ways:
– Justice as accountability
– Justice as a relentless pursuit
– Justice as hearing stories
– Justice as enacted by the state
• Justice as accountability
– Evident in all inquiries internationally
– Recognised in Report from Victorian Inquiry
– Directed primarily at Christian Institutions
• “Victims of criminal child abuse by personnel in trusted
organisations pursued justice for what they often
perceived to be the loss of their innocence as a child.
They wanted to see consequences for perpetrators – to
see the removed from their position, reported to the
police and potentially punished through the criminal
justice system” (Victorian Inquiry Report, vol 1, p88)
“Today I find that the Towards Healing process
was more about the church being seen to be
doing something and that it had minimal healing
for me… My wish list is: for the church to
acknowledge that the abuse by the members was
unacceptable and they will now care for those
who have been abused by them and their
system.” (Mr Whelan, Victorian Inquiry,
Transcript)
• Justice as a relentless pursuit:
This is not about a new car”, I said, “I’ve got a car, thank you very
much”, I said, “My brother leant me money to buy a car, for $2300”. I
said, “We’re not a family that would spend $40,000 on a car, I said,
“What’re gonna do with this man? I want him excommunicated”. He
said, “Oh no, once a priest always a priest”… [I] Said, “He’s not a priest,
he’s a paedophile and he’s active, right up till now…” and he said,
“Well I went to see him twice and his conscience is eating him to
death, and when he dies, he’ll have to come face to face with the Lord,
Almighty, his maker”…when he died, and had his burial in the
cathedral, as a priest. And then they wrote that, in the Catholic Weekly
(showing the Catholic Weekly) about this man, and that’s when I lost
it, that’s when I started fightin’ an’….and I did, I fought ‘em, and I
fought them and I fought them, and I got what I wanted (getting
papers to show).
(Marlene, interview participant, Catholic)
“Oh, I would’ve, I would’ve not been put off in
the first instance, and that’s me talking now and
not talking as the state I was in then. I certainly
wouldn’t have waited around for their response;
I would’ve forced it, forced it, forced it, and, I
would have insisted when it, when we finally got
down to it that it was a public relations issue, it
wasn’t a legal issue, and, forced ‘em’”. (Mark,
interview participant, Anglican)
• Justice as enacted by the state
– Survivors exhausted their own attempts to achieve
justice through institutional measures
– Survivors present a desire for the socio-legal power of
the state to bring accountability to institutions
– State v’s the Church
“Many victims have been denied justice. This inquiry
represents the closest they have come to something
approximating justice” Survivors Network of those
Abused by Priests Australia (SNAP), Submission Victorian
Inquiry
“This is where the government is essential for
victims. The government is the only body powerful
enough to bring the Catholic Church to heel with
civil law, if only for the purpose of protecting future
children from clergy rape and the protection of
those children who were raped. The adult victims
we see now are being further mistreated by the
richest and most powerful organisation in the
world. You must act and protect your most
vulnerable citizens’ human rights.” (Chrissie Forster,
Victorian Inquiry Hearing)
• Justice as hearing stories
“I want the church to endorse my true story, my, my
story as my truth, not necessarily what they find to
be true, but if they you know they say that because I
mean in the [psychological] report, it’s pretty much
an appraisal of my, my own characteristic and my
own confidence and intelligence, you know, what
they say is that um, the complainant is a compelling,
intelligent, believable witness.” (Jeremiah, interview
participant)
“I cannot change the past or what has happened;
however, I want to share my experience in the hope that
this type of thing can never, ever happen again. I would
also like to see justice served to those perpetrators of
crimes against children that are still living today and,
most importantly, a scheme set up for us, such as support
for housing, medical and dental, as many of the illnesses
that have arisen have stemmed from the physical,
emotional, sexual and mental abuse inflicted upon many
of us children. I will end with a quote I came across: “If
we do not understand the transgressions of the past,
then we are absolutely going to commit them again.”
(Gabrielle Short, transcript, Victorian Inquiry)
• What is interesting about this?
– These are not new ways of constructing justice
– These themes are evident in Restorative Justice theory
and practice, feminist theory and practice and
criminal justice policy
– Relationships and dialogue between the state,
Christian Institution, and survivors both individual and
collective become sites where justice is enacted and
internalised in survivors concepts of self
– The hope of justice is captured in the recognition of
individual validity and agency
Thank you
Dr Jodi Death
Jodi.death@qut.edu.au