The moral duty to reduce the risk of child sexual abuse

Human Affairs ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-198
Author(s):  
Sergei Levin
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Moral Duty ◽  
Individual Risk ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Sex Abuse ◽  
Moral Duties ◽  
Child Sex Abuse ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Child sexual abuse and paedophilia are ethically loaded public health issues. This paper looks at whether there are any specific moral duties related to paedophilia. I argue that the moral duty not to commit child sex abuse is universal and that the duty to reduce the individual risk of child sex abuse is specific to paedophiles. A paedophile is a person who is sexually attracted to children. Some paedophiles commit child sex abuse offences, but others are able to refrain from doing so and have the rational capacity to take adequate preventive measures. The risk of committing child sex abuse and the ability to reduce that risk are a moral duty pertaining specifically to paedophiles. I further argue that society has a moral duty to help paedophiles to fulfil that duty. Unfortunately, societies rarely provide such opportunities and hence fail in their moral duty towards paedophiles and children.

Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 658-678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. White ◽  
Karen J. Terry
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Excessive Force ◽  
Police Organization ◽  
Sex Abuse ◽  
Police Deviance ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

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.

scholarly journals Legal Irresponsibility and Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Crofts
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Catholic Education ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Sex Abuse ◽  
Institutional Responses ◽  
Child Sex Abuse

The current Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has demonstrated serious long-term failures to prevent and adequately respond to child sexual abuse by institutions. Rather than regarding the law as a system of responsibility, this article argues that it can be read instead as organising irresponsibility, drawing upon Scott Veitch’s ideas in Law and Irresponsibility. His key argument is that legal institutions operate as much to deflect responsibility for harms suffered as to acknowledge them. This article focuses on the ways in which the criminal justice system is complicit in organising irresponsibility for systemic failures through an analysis of the Royal Commission Case Study No 6: The responses of a primary school and the Toowoomba Catholic Education Office to the Conduct of Gerald Byrnes. Through concrete examples, this article analyses the ways in which criminal law organises irresponsibility through the individuation of responsibility and the emphasis upon subjective culpability. These practices ensure irresponsibility for actors for systemic failures.

scholarly journals Factors associated with child sexual abuse in Tanzania: a qualitative study

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mangi J. Ezekiel ◽  
Felix Kisanga ◽  
Idda H. Mosha ◽  
Amani Anaeli ◽  
Switbert R. Kamazima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Sex Abuse ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Children And Parents ◽  
Interview Guide ◽  
Key Informant ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Child Sex Abuse ◽  
Different Levels

Background: Child sexual abuse (CSA) is one of the most pervasive occurrences which are reported all over the world. It often goes unnoticed and undocumented due to surrounding taboos; its sensitivity in nature and affects the less powerful population. Anecdote information is available on the nature and extent of sexual abuse among children in Tanzania. The aim of this study was to explore factors, forms, context of abuse and perpetrators of child sex abuse in selected regions of Tanzania.Methods: Key informant interviews were conducted among adults including parents of the victims to explore factors associated with sexual abuse of children under 10 years old in Tanzania. The interview guide centred on factors for child sexual abuse, the type of perpetrators and the context into which these abuses take place.Results: There were incidences of child sexual abuse in Tanzania and the major forms were anal and vaginal penetration, and the most affected were girls. The abuses were rarely reported due to shame and embarrassment faced by the affected children and parents. The causes of child sexual abuse were poverty, ambitions and moral degradation, myths and beliefs, urbanization, foreign culture and poor parental care. Incidents of CSA were reported to occur in perpetrators’ homes and in semi-finished housing structures, madrassa and recreational venues where children can freely access entertainment by watching movies. These acts were committed by people in position of power, close relationship and trusted by the children. Contexts where child sexual abuses occur included overcrowded living spaces and social activities that go on late into the night.Conclusion: We recommend for strengthened interventions at different levels within the society to address the root causes and different contexts in which child sex abuse occurs. Increased awareness of the root causes should go hand in hand with measures to encourage parents and survivors to report incidents to relevant authorities timely as they occur.

scholarly journals Usability and Effectiveness of the Finnish Investigative Instrument of Child Sexual Abuse

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Tadei ◽  
pekka santtila ◽  
Jan Antfolk
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Probability Estimation ◽  
Sex Abuse ◽  
Empirical Information ◽  
Proper Training ◽  
Level Information ◽  
Child Sex Abuse

The Finnish Investigative Instrument of Child Sexual Abuse (FICSA) is a computerized tool that uses Bayesian statistics to estimate the probability that a reported child sex abuse (CSA) is true or false based on population level information regarding the correlates of CSA. FICSA can be used to assist decision-making in investigations of CSA. We compared forensic experts’ and students’ ability to use FICSA and whether its use affected the estimates of the probability of CSA in mock-scenarios. The use of FICSA was compared to only having access to the empirical information about CSA risk and protective factors, which FICSA is based on, and to unassisted decision-making. The 54 participants analyzed two scenarios of possible CSA and estimated the probability of the CSA allegation being true. The results show that participants using FICSA were prone to make technical mistakes that affect the correctness of the probability estimation. The performance of experts and students was equivalent in all the conditions, but in the group using FICSA, where experts tended to deviate from the probability provided by FICSA more than students. Having only access to empirical information did not improve estimates compared to unassisted decision-making. Both students and experts tended to adjust the estimates provided by FICSA downwards, that is, to decrease the probability of abuse. We conclude that FICSA can assist investigators to correctly integrate evidence and calculate probabilities but that proper training is required.

Child Sexual Abuse and Opportunity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Wortley
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Situational Crime Prevention ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Environmental Criminology ◽  
Prevention Strategies ◽  
Sex Abuse ◽  
Offending Behavior ◽  
Child Sex Abuse ◽  
Legal Controls

Explanations of child sex abuse typically focus on the offenders’ presumed pathological dispositions that are seen to drive their offending behavior, and pay little attention to the role played by opportunity and other situational factors. It is argued in this chapter that child sexual abuse, like all behavior, is the product of a person-situation interaction and as such can be analysed using the theories and approaches of environmental criminology. Child sexual abuse is found to occur in contexts where potential victims can be easily accessed and where personal, social, situational, and legal controls over potential offenders are weak. Establishing a situational basis for child sexual abuse opens the way for the application of situational crime prevention strategies to create safer places for children.

scholarly journals School Nurses Avoid Addressing Child Sexual Abuse

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisbet Engh Kraft ◽  
GullBritt Rahm ◽  
Ulla-Britt Eriksson
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Sexually Abused ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
School Nurses ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Abused Children ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The Individual

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a global public health problem with major consequences for the individual child and society. An earlier Swedish study showed that the school nurses did not initially talk about nor mention CSA as one form of child abuse. For the child to receive adequate support, the disclosure is a precondition and is dependent on an available person prepared to listen. The aim of the study was to explore the ability of the school nurses to detect and support sexually abused children. It is a secondary analysis of focus group interviews with school nurses. Thematic analysis was performed. Results showed that the school nurses avoided addressing CSA due to arousal of strong emotions, ambivalence, and a complicated disclosure process. In order to detect CSA and support abused children, attentiveness of sexual abuse as a possible cause of physical and mental ill-health is crucial.

scholarly journals The Politics of Discourse in Sexual Abuse Narratives

MANUSYA ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-49
Author(s):  
Chutima Pragatwutisarn
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Female Subjectivity ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Sex Abuse ◽  
Female Survivors ◽  
Women's Narratives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sexual Stories ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Sexual Abuse Victims

Although sex is considered something private and personal, telling sexual stories is by no means a personal matter. The difficulty faced by sexual abuse victims who want to tell their stories is due to the ways in which the meanings of sexual abuse, the abuser and the victim are discursively constructed by the dominant culture. As a result, a tension between the individual desire to tell stories and the social injunction to silence is invariably found in women’s narratives of sexual abuse. This paper explores how discourses of the dominant culture discourage women from breaking their silence about sexual abuse and how the emerging voices of sex abuse victims have led to the reevaluation of discourses, power, and female subjectivity. My discussion will be divided into two parts: the first part—’Talking Back’—will focus on sexual abuse narratives written by female survivors’ and the second part —’Public Confession’ — will examine survivors discourse broadcast in television programmes.

scholarly journals Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation: Guest Editor’s Introduction

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Michael Salter
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
The Individual

One of the most unnerving aspects of child sexual abuse is that it is constantly manifesting in unexpected ways. The current Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has collected testimony of abuse in churches, schools, out-of-home care, hospitals and religious communities, demonstrating the breadth of institutional arrangements whose structures and cultures have facilitated child sexual abuse. Cases of serious and prolonged sexual abuse in family contexts have been excluded from the terms of reference of the Royal Commission but nonetheless continue to surface in media reports. In 2013, twelve children were permanently removed from an extended family living in rural NSW in what has been described as one of the worst cases of child abuse in Australia, involving intergenerational incest going back at least three generations (Auebach 2014). Another recent high-profile case involved the use of the Internet to facilitate the sexual exploitation of an adopted child by his parents in Queensland (Ralston 2013). These cases challenge the received wisdom that child sexual abuse is characterised by the victimisation of one child by one opportunistic offender. Such incidents suggest instead that child sexual abuse takes varied and systemic forms, and can operate to perpetuate and entrench toxic cultures and power structures.   This special issue on Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation is a timely contribution to ongoing efforts to understand the multiplicity of child sexual abuse. It is an interdisciplinary collection of insights drawn from criminology, sociology, psychiatry, psychology and psychoanalysis, and includes papers from academic researchers alongside academic practitioners whose writing is grounded in their work with affected individuals and communities. A key aim of the special issue is to contextualise the diversity of child sexual abuse socially, politically and historically, recognising the dynamic and iterative relationships between sexual abuse and the contexts in which it takes place. The contributions to this special issue examine how the diversity and dynamics of abuse unfold at the individual, community and social level, and across time. The issue is focused on emerging or under-recognised forms of child sexual abuse, such as organised abuse and sexual exploitation, which illustrate recent shifts in the knowledge base and require new and innovative criminological thinking.Download the PDF file from this page to find out more about this special edition.

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