Forgotten Study: Abuse in School 100 Times Worse than by Priests

LifeSiteNews.com -- Your Life, Family, and Cutlure Outpost ^ | April 1, 2010 | By James Tillman and John Jalsevac

[topher]

Thursday April 1, 2010

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Forgotten Study: Abuse in School 100 Times Worse than by Priests

By James Tillman and John Jalsevac

WASHINGTON, DC, April 1, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In the last several weeks such a quantity of ink has been spilled in newspapers across the globe about the priestly sex abuse scandals, that a casual reader might be forgiven for thinking that Catholic priests are the worst and most common perpetrators of child sex abuse.

But according to Charol Shakeshaft, the researcher of a little-remembered 2004 study prepared for the U.S. Department of Education, "the physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests."

After effectively disappearing from the radar, Shakeshaft’s study is now being revisited by commentators seeking to restore a sense of proportion to the mainstream coverage of the Church scandal.

According to the 2004 study “the most accurate data available at this time” indicates that “nearly 9.6 percent of students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career.”

“Educator sexual misconduct is woefully under-studied,” writes the researcher. “We have scant data on incidence and even less on descriptions of predators and targets.  There are many questions that call for answers.“

In an article published on Monday, renowned Catholic commentator George Weigel referred to the Shakeshaft study, and observed that “The sexual and physical abuse of children and young people is a global plague” in which Catholic priests constitute only a small minority of perpetrators.

While Weigel observes that the findings of Shakeshaft’s study do nothing to mitigate the harm caused by priestly abuse, or excuse the “clericalism” and “fideism” that led bishops to ignore the problem, they do point to a gross imbalance in the level of scrutiny given to it, throwing suspicion on the motives of the news outlets that are pouring their resources into digging up decades-old dirt on the Church.

“The narrative that has been constructed is often less about the protection of the young (for whom the Catholic Church is, by empirical measure, the safest environment for young people in America today) than it is about taking the Church down," he writes. 

Weigel observes that priestly sex abuse is “a phenomenon that spiked between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s but seems to have virtually disappeared,” and that in recent years the Church has gone to great lengths to punish and remove priestly predators and to protect children. The result of these measures is that “six credible cases of clerical sexual abuse in 2009 were reported in the U.S. bishops’ annual audit, in a Church of some 65,000,000 members.”

Despite these facts, however, “the sexual abuse story in the global media is almost entirely a Catholic story, in which the Catholic Church is portrayed as the epicenter of the sexual abuse of the young.”

Outside of the Church, Shakeshaft is not alone in highlighting the largely unaddressed, and unpublicized problem of child sex abuse in schools. Sherryll Kraizer, executive director of the Denver-based Safe Child Program, told the Colorado Gazette in 2008 that school employees commonly ignore laws meant to prevent the sexual abuse of children.

“I see it regularly,” Kraizer said. “There are laws against failing to report, but the law is almost never enforced. Almost never.”

“What typically happens is you’ll have a teacher who’s spending a little too much time in a room with one child with the door shut,” Kraizer explained. “Another teacher sees it and reports it to the principal. The principal calls the suspected teacher in and says ‘Don’t do that,’ instead of contacting child protective services.”

“Before you know it, the teacher is driving the student home. A whole series of events will unfold, known to other teachers and the principal, and nobody contacts child services before it’s out of control. You see this documented in records after it eventually ends up in court.”

In an editorial last week, The Gazette revisited the testimony of Kraizer in the context of the Church abuse scandal coverage, concluding that “the much larger crisis remains in our public schools today, where children are raped and groped every day in the United States.”

“The media and others must maintain their watchful eye on the Catholic Church and other religious institutions,” wrote The Gazette, “But it’s no less tragic when a child gets abused at school.”

In 2004, shortly after the Shakeshaft study was released, Catholic League President William Donohue, who was unavailable for an interview for this story, asked, “Where is the media in all this?”

“Isn’t it news that the number of public school students who have been abused by a school employee is more than 100 times greater than the number of minors who have been abused by priests?” he asked.

“All those reporters, columnists, talking heads, attorneys general, D.A.’s, psychologists and victims groups who were so quick on the draw to get priests have a moral obligation to pursue this issue to the max.  If they don’t, they’re a fraud.”

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/apr/10040101.html

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[tiki]

BTW, since you are so concerned, what are you doing to fight sexual abuse in the public schools?

I know what I’m doing, as a Catholic educator, I am teaching my students not to become victims.

[ArrogantBustard]

Are you defending the pedophiles, pederasts, homosexuals, and rapists in the public school systems?

[wolfcreek]

“The deal with the public schools goes on as we speak and I don’t hear the NYTs saying a word, do you?”

Nope but, I’m not running around calling everyone a Catholic basher.

[ArrogantBustard]

Kids in Catholic schools also run a 200% greater risk of being educated.

[ArrogantBustard]

Do the schools cover it up and transfer the teachers to new schools without telling anyone at the new school about the pedophilia?

Yes.

[Mrs. Don-o]

In the light of the info at #3 and #33 apparently corrective steps have reduced the incidence of abuse, at present, to near-zero in most Catholic institutions --- a record not even remotely approached in any other church or school system in the USA, and certainly not in the public schools.

Certainly standards should be higher, and expectations higher, in Catholic institutions than in others. ("Of those to whom much has been given, much will be expected.")

But now the pressure being exerted on the Church is truly irrational: I'm talking about the fact that the Church is being pressured to accept homosexuality, and is being politically and legally attacked for discriminating against homosexuals in employment and in social services, e.g. for refusing to place children for adoption with homosexual couples.

The LDS and the Boy Scouts -- which also don't accept homosexual leadership or accommodate homosexual behavior ---are being similarly pressured.

Ever wonder why?

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

Uh...HUH?

‘they are either fired or go to jail”...What alternate reality are you living in????

Teachers DON’T get fired....very very very rarely!

Teachers have a UNION...no one better touch them!
there is no National Teacher Organization...like the Catholic church is an international organization.

Do you really think the NEA or the Congress, or Justice Dept is going to ‘fire” or ‘remove a teacher?

but you know, some people like you...NO MATTER WHAT THE FACTS ARE...they just go on with their mantras...Usually these people are Libs or Dems.

[wintertime]

The author of this article is correct. The Catholic Church is being unfairly singled out by the Mainstream ( Marxist) media. And..I agree. The motive of the Marxists is to destroy and delegitimize this church.

Abuse in our government schools by staff and other students, I would suspect, far, far, far exceeds anything that every went on in the Catholic Church.

If the Catholic leadership had been more careful about allowing Marxist infiltration into its teaching and leadership ranks, it would have had far less trouble with homosexuality and child abuse. The Catholic Church would be wise to remove these Marxist elements from its ranks. That seems unlikely, though. Witness the Catholic Church's response to Notre Dame, Kennedy's funeral, and so-called Catholic pro-abortion politicians.

[wolfcreek]

I don’t currenly have a child in public school. As far as I know, neither my Wife, children or any of our friend’s children have ever been sexually abused in school.

I do know it happens from time to time.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

Teachers fired???/HA.

How about that huge building in NYC that houses “suspended’ teachers and they just go there every day, hundreds of them and hang out and get their full pay..but the Educ Board can’t have them in the classroom.

why don’t you go to DU or Moveon and keep repeating the same banal things over and over and over...why bother to acknowledge change/ why bother with the facts?

Just keep posting the same post over and over and over..
this is where Freeper is NO different than the NY times or DU...Catholic Bashing with a refusal to look at the facts.

[Valpal1]

Hmmm?

[marajade]

Two wrongs don’t make a right

[Valpal1]

Yet you persist with the MSM in pursuing the dead and the past while ignoring the current victims. I know the MSM agenda, so what’s yours?

[SnakeDoctor]

>> Teachers fired???/HA. How about that huge building in NYC that houses “suspended’ teachers and they just go there every day, hundreds of them and hang out and get their full pay..but the Educ Board can’t have them in the classroom.

I am aware of that. If you re-read the post, I said “removed from the classroom, and fired as quickly as union rules will allow”. In the case of NY, that is a long time ... but they can only hurt taxpayers (rather than kids) while taking a government paycheck in the rubber room. Teacher’s unions are ridiculous.

>> why don’t you go to DU or Moveon and keep repeating the same banal things over and over and over...why bother to acknowledge change/ why bother with the facts? Just keep posting the same post over and over and over.. this is where Freeper is NO different than the NY times or DU...Catholic Bashing with a refusal to look at the facts.

Who was “catholic bashing”? Who posted the same thing multiple times? What facts?

Posting that schoolteachers are worse, or Boy Scout leaders are worse, or whatever ... is not a valid defense to child predation. “Everybody’s doing it” doesn’t really fly. Leaders of the Christian faith should be held to a higher standard than that.

The church heirarchy does have some things to answer for here. I don’t consider that “Catholic bashing”. It has nothing to do with the faith itself ... it has only to do with individual men and their individual actions. I would question why people are posting sad defensese like “but teachers and boy scout leaders hurt children, too”, thinking that somehow makes it all go away. Why does that make the situation any better?

For the record, I do not support, and have not supported, requests for the pope to resign. But, I think there should be MUCH quicker action to fire, excommunicate, and prosecute anyone caught abusing or intentionally covering up abuse.

SnakeDoc

[wintertime]

Whenever there is a government school outrage ask the following question:

**What would be the police response if the same abuse happen in a private home of the parent or neighbor?
**What would the Child Protective Services being doing to the parents or neighbors?

Ultimately, teachers and principals are almost **never** held to the same standards for safety and supervision as are parents and common citizens.

Down on the “Animal Farm” parents and common citizens live in the barn. Teachers and principals live in the farmer’s house.

[marajade]

Justice

[tiki]

I don’t have any children in public school either but it doesn’t give me a pass not to care, not to do what I can do.

I was sexually harrassed by a teacher when I was in HS, he was going to blackmail because he caught me smoking, I told him to go for it because his name would be mud because it was common knowledge that he was a lecher.

Our chorus teacher attempted to sexually abuse a girl in our class, she went straight to her parents who went to the authorities but they were too late, the man had already fled.

That was 40 years ago, but 20 years ago there was the art teacher who abused his own daughter and numerous students, he did do some time.

These are just a few of the cases that I know for a fact, they were going on then and I’m sure they are going on now. Many more could be happening in our small town and I will never know unless they are caught.

When my youngest was in HS there were several teachers having relationships with students, the men lost their jobs, for the women, they looked the other way.

So are you saying that it doesn’t happen that often or that it hasn’t happened to your’s or anyone you personally cared about so it didn’t impact you?

[Valpal1]

Justice from dead people? Practically the definition of a witchhunt.

From the study:

Weigel observes that priestly sex abuse is “a phenomenon that spiked between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s but seems to have virtually disappeared,” and that in recent years the Church has gone to great lengths to punish and remove priestly predators and to protect children. The result of these measures is that “six credible cases of clerical sexual abuse in 2009 were reported in the U.S. bishops’ annual audit, in a Church of some 65,000,000 members.”

The Catholics have done an about face in the last twenty years on this issue, the same cannot be said for public schoos or state foster systems, yet the MSM only bangs on one drum.

Why? Because the Catholic Church is one of the few that reliably opposes abortion with great strength and authority.

For the MSM it's really about killing children, not saving them. This is the "justice" you align yourself with.

I'm not even catholic, yet I know the yeoman work they do in the Right to Life trenches and it pains me when I see nimrods piling on in the name of "justice" when you don't have the least idea of wtf is really going on and who is abusing and who is killing children. Really sad

[marajade]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/justice

[kailbo]

Not in my locale. The public schools far outpace the catholic schools academically. Parents send their kids to Catholic school locally, not for academics, or even moral teachings, but, more often, because they have a successful athletic programs.