Clergy-Perpetrated Child Sexual Abuse: Techniques of Neutralisation in the Case of John Ellis

• In Event: Institutional and Specialized Sexual Abuse Issues

Abstract

Clergy-perpetrated child sexual abuse (CSA) has emerged as a critical issue on the global stage, demanding widespread public attention and encouraging an extreme scrutiny of institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). Cases of CSA within the RCC have received growing media attention in Australia in recent years due to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission) as well as additional national and international inquiries. This paper examines the neutralisation techniques utilised in one specific landmark case of clergy-perpetrated CSA; the Archdiocese of Sydney v John Ellis. Using a qualitative thematic and critical discourse analysis, textual data drawn from the Ellis case transcripts will be critically considered and interpreted through the lens of neutralisation theory. Ultimately, this paper argues that the use of techniques of neutralisation means the RCC was able to effectively protect individuals, as well as the institution, from liability in relation to abuse claims. The effects of these actions continue to impact victims of clergy-perpetrated CSA within Australia whose ongoing claims of abuse have been effected by the outcomes of the Ellis case.

Author

• Bridget Weir, Queensland University of Technology