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The 2004 John Jay Report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was based on surveys completed by the Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States.
The surveys filtered provided information from diocesan files on each priest accused of sexual abuse and on each of the priest’s victims to the research team, in a format which did not disclose the names of the accused priests or the dioceses where they worked.
The dioceses were encouraged to issue reports of their own based on the surveys that they had completed.
The team reported that 10,667 people in the US had made allegations of child sexual abuse between 1950 and 2002 against 4,392 priests (about 4% of all 109,694 priests who served during the time period covered by the study).
One-third of the accusations were made in the years 2002 and 2003, and another third between 1993 and 2001.
“Thus, prior to 1993, only one-third of cases were known to church officials,” says the report.[15]
Of the 11,000-odd allegations, 6,700 were investigated and substantiated[16] against 1,872 priests,[17] and another 1,000 were unsubstantiated[16] against 824 priests.[17]
The remaining 3,300 allegations were not investigated because the priests involved had died by the time the allegations were made.[16]
The allegations were thought to be credible for 1,671 priests and not credible for 345 priests.[17]
Police were contacted regarding 1,021 priests.
Nearly all these reports led to investigations, and 384 instances have led to criminal charges.
Of those priests for whom information about dispositions is available, 252 were convicted and at least 100 of those served time in prison.
Thus, 6% of all priests against whom allegations were made had been convicted and about 2% sentenced to prison at the date of the report.[17]
Of the 4,392 accused priests included in the report, 56% were the subject of a single allegation.
Just under 3% (or 149 priests) were the subject of ten or more allegations.
These priests accounted for 2,960 of the total number of allegations.
Around 81% of the victims were male; 51% between the ages of 11 and 14, and 27% between the ages to 15 to 17 years. (For more details, see the “Statistics on offenders and victims” section below.)
Based on a database of 3,000 priests accused of sexual abuse that it had compiled, the group BishopAccountability.org said in 2009 that one-third of the abusive priests in the US had links to Ireland (the article on this database refers to some as “either born in Ireland or are of Irish descent who came to the US” but did not define the “links to Ireland”).[18]
The John Jay report identified the following factors as contributing to the sexual abuse problem:[19]
Failure by the hierarchy to grasp the seriousness of the problem
Overemphasis on the need to avoid a scandal
Use of unqualified treatment centers
Misguided willingness to forgive
Insufficient accountability
The John Jay Report contains actual statistics against which some less detailed opinions can be tested.
For example the report found that 4.0% of all priests active between 1950 and 2002 had allegations of abuse and additionally states "It is impossible to determine from our surveys what percent of all actual cases of abuse that occurred between 1950 and 2002 have been reported to the Church and are therefore in our dataset.
Allegations of child sexual abuse are made gradually over an extended time period and it is likely that further allegations will be made with respect to recent time periods covered in our surveys" (the possibility of some cases never being reported is not discussed); the figure of 4% is sometimes quoted as a total figure.
The Report found that between 80-90% of the victims were pubescent males, and that allegations of actual pedophilia only occurred in approximately 10% of the cases.
The surveys filtered provided information from diocesan files on each priest accused of sexual abuse and on each of the priest’s victims to the research team, in a format which did not disclose the names of the accused priests or the dioceses where they worked.
The dioceses were encouraged to issue reports of their own based on the surveys that they had completed.
The team reported that 10,667 people in the US had made allegations of child sexual abuse between 1950 and 2002 against 4,392 priests (about 4% of all 109,694 priests who served during the time period covered by the study).
One-third of the accusations were made in the years 2002 and 2003, and another third between 1993 and 2001.
“Thus, prior to 1993, only one-third of cases were known to church officials,” says the report.[15]
Of the 11,000-odd allegations, 6,700 were investigated and substantiated[16] against 1,872 priests,[17] and another 1,000 were unsubstantiated[16] against 824 priests.[17]
The remaining 3,300 allegations were not investigated because the priests involved had died by the time the allegations were made.[16]
The allegations were thought to be credible for 1,671 priests and not credible for 345 priests.[17]
Police were contacted regarding 1,021 priests.
Nearly all these reports led to investigations, and 384 instances have led to criminal charges.
Of those priests for whom information about dispositions is available, 252 were convicted and at least 100 of those served time in prison.
Thus, 6% of all priests against whom allegations were made had been convicted and about 2% sentenced to prison at the date of the report.[17]
Of the 4,392 accused priests included in the report, 56% were the subject of a single allegation.
Just under 3% (or 149 priests) were the subject of ten or more allegations.
These priests accounted for 2,960 of the total number of allegations.
Around 81% of the victims were male; 51% between the ages of 11 and 14, and 27% between the ages to 15 to 17 years. (For more details, see the “Statistics on offenders and victims” section below.)
Based on a database of 3,000 priests accused of sexual abuse that it had compiled, the group BishopAccountability.org said in 2009 that one-third of the abusive priests in the US had links to Ireland (the article on this database refers to some as “either born in Ireland or are of Irish descent who came to the US” but did not define the “links to Ireland”).[18]
The John Jay report identified the following factors as contributing to the sexual abuse problem:[19]
Failure by the hierarchy to grasp the seriousness of the problem
Overemphasis on the need to avoid a scandal
Use of unqualified treatment centers
Misguided willingness to forgive
Insufficient accountability
The John Jay Report contains actual statistics against which some less detailed opinions can be tested.
For example the report found that 4.0% of all priests active between 1950 and 2002 had allegations of abuse and additionally states "It is impossible to determine from our surveys what percent of all actual cases of abuse that occurred between 1950 and 2002 have been reported to the Church and are therefore in our dataset.
Allegations of child sexual abuse are made gradually over an extended time period and it is likely that further allegations will be made with respect to recent time periods covered in our surveys" (the possibility of some cases never being reported is not discussed); the figure of 4% is sometimes quoted as a total figure.
The Report found that between 80-90% of the victims were pubescent males, and that allegations of actual pedophilia only occurred in approximately 10% of the cases.
