Protecting your church against sexual predators

In church after church around the world, reports have come to light about children being molested by someone in the place where they should feel safest.

The Roman Catholic Church is reeling from staggering financial judgements in lawsuits filed by molestation victims. Most of these cases have come into the spotlight many years after the alleged sexual crimes occurred. For decades, the Catholic Church quietly settled abuse cases out of court and shuffled paedophile priests to different parishes.

Not until the early 1980s did the news media start digging into allegations that had surfaced in places such as New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1992, the Boston scandals began a nightmare of litigation for Roman Catholic diocese administrators in the United States. After more than a decade, the end of litigation is not yet in sight.

But the Roman Catholic Church is only the most visible defendant. Lawyers also have other church organisations in their sights. In some of the targeted churches, leaders have made the same mistakes that got the Roman Catholic bishops into so much trouble. Incidents were concealed. Law enforcement agencies were stonewalled. Safeguards were lacking. Misconduct was not subjected to church discipline.

Sexual misconduct toward children in the church is not new, but attitudes and perspectives about child molesters have changed and absolutely must change. Otherwise we will continue to cope with devastated lives, financial disaster, and member disillusionment. Church leaders had better take a long, hard look at this issue.

Ten facts

To begin with, let us look at some facts about these crimes:
1. The vast majority of child molesters are male.
2. Victims may be male or female.
3. Child molesters tend to work hard to win positions of trust. Authority, trust, and respect enable molesters to manipulate children, parents, and other leaders.
4. A child molester will create fear in the child, so that the child is afraid to tell anyone.
5. There are no ‘typical’ child molesters. They may be of any age.
6. A child molester in the church looks for and tries to create opportunities to be alone with a child or children.
7. Prior to being caught, the typical child molester attacks 13 children.
8. Child molesters often are married, may show evidence of a strong Christian witness, and may be in positions of responsibility.
9. Child molesters often do not recognise that any harm has come to their victims. Frequently, there is more remorse from being caught than for injuries inflicted by the crime.
10. A child molester is very likely to return to criminal sexual behaviour after release from prison.

FAQ: Why should I expect a child molester to come into my congregation?

ANSWER: Churches provide one of the best sources for children to be found. An atmosphere of trust and acceptance makes the church one of the easiest places for predators to find opportunities to attack victims.

Child abuse statistics rise

Since the 1970s, child abuse is far more likely to be reported than it was before. In California, for example, the number of reports investigated rose from about 119,000 in 1976 to about 475,000 in 1988. A similar statistical increase occurred throughout the United States and Canada. In 1976, fewer than 6,000 incidents of a sexual nature involving children were reported to law enforcement and child welfare workers. Once sexual abuse became more widely recognised and reporting was encouraged, the number of reports increased to 130,000 in 1986. The number tripled between 1980 and 1986 alone. Today, more than 300,000 child sexual abuse reports are investigated annually in the United States.

So, whereas the church might have been forgiven for being caught unawares by paedophiles in the 1970s, there is no excuse today. Ample warning has been given. The church is a natural magnet for children. Paedophiles hunt children. Thus, it would be foolish to think that paedophile child molesters wouldn’t regard the church as a hunting ground.

However, in an interview with Christianity Today, attorney Richard Hammar, an author and expert in legal aspects of church life, said, ‘Our research indicates that 70% of churches are doing absolutely nothing to screen volunteer youth workers’.

Molesters may assault many

There are no ‘absolute’ statistics on the number of children molested every day in the United States, Canada, or any other country. Despite the increased awareness of the problem, and the likelihood that a sexual incident will be reported, many still go unreported. In some nations, molestation is not discussed as freely as it is in North America. We can only trace numbers of complaints, investigations, arrests, convictions, and releases. Research on adults who were sexually abused as children suggests that the large majority of victims do not report their abuse at the time it occurs. Children often keep their history of abuse a secret because they fear their parents’ rejection, punishment, and blame.

In a typical church environment, guilt and the potential stigma associated with abuse, coupled with the understanding of how homosexual acts are viewed by the church, often will silence an abused child, particularly if he or she is in or near the teenage years. Younger children are often sworn to secrecy with threats of violence or some vague, undefined ‘doom’ that will occur. The real tragedy is that, while their little lips are sealed, so are their hearts.

Remember, the typical child molester does not wear a sign. And the victims are not clamouring to tell their stories of molestation. They are sitting in church with sad eyes, quiet, confused, and hurting.

The typical child molester has a string of prior victims and may or may not have been detected yet. He is calculating and cunning, waiting for opportunity. The only question is whether the particular church he has chosen (or that chose him) will afford him the opportunity he needs.

One attempt to estimate the number of victims in 1998 was published in the 2001 Annual Review of Sociology. For all kinds of violent crime in 1998, including sexual attacks, 87.9 of every thousand US adolescents between the ages of 12 to 15 became victims. A slightly higher rate of 96.2 of every thousand teens between the ages of 16 and 19 became victims. For people in their 20s, the chance of becoming a victim of violent crime drops rapidly. At age 65, only 4.4 of every thousand persons are victims. Ross Macmillan, who wrote the report, observed that the age variables apply to all the kinds of violent crime studied. Robberies and sexual assaults were ten times as likely among adolescents. Other assaults were 23 times more likely.

67% of all victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies were under the age of 18; 34% of all victims were under the age of 12. One of every seven victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies was under the age of six.

Population and porn increase sex crimes

Several reasons might be suggested for actual increases in crime numbers, as opposed to increases due to better reporting and a greater willingness to talk about behaviour that might be identified as sexual. Natural increases in population certainly play a part in crime statistics. Another factor that is increasingly being blamed is the easier availability of child and adult pornography on the internet, which may come to the attention of people who have sexual proclivities that they might not have acted upon in the past. Assuming that internet pornography will not become more controlled and less available, we can expect that the rate of sexual assaults, including child molestation, will continue to outpace population growth. This increases the chances that our communities and our churches have paedophiles or people with paedophiliac tendencies. In short, paedophiles are all around, and some are church members.

FAQ: What does a child molester look like?

ANSWER: He looks like you, especially if you are a man.

Paedophiliac child molesters are invariably male. Although there are some female molesters, they are few and their victims are typically males in their teens. The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children reports: ‘In both clinical and non-clinical samples, the vast majority of offenders are male.’

A significant percentage of victims are males. A study undertaken by the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, of 457 male sex offenders who had committed crimes against children, found that about one-third of these sexual offenders targeted male victims.

Child molesters can be pre-teens or grandfathers. A US Department of Justice report, titled Criminal Offender Statistics, found that criminal offenders who had victimised a child were on average five years older than violent offenders who had committed crimes against adults. Nearly 25% of child victimisers were age 40 or older. 40% of the offenders who victimised children under the age of six were juveniles under the age of 18 — one reason to keep male teens out of the nursery.

Legal FAQ for church leaders

Ten facts

Child abuse statistics rise

Molesters may assault many

Population and porn increase sex crimes

FAQ: What does a child molester look like?

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