Institutional Sexual Abuse - Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings

What do we Know About Educators who Commit Sexual Abuse?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Despite the age of this study, published in 2014, it provides valuable insight into current issues about sexual abuse by educators.

Teachers, Students, and Sexual Abuse

While these cases do not come across my desk terribly often, they do still occur.

In Pennsylvania, the age of consent is 16. However, if the abuse case involves a 16- or 17-year-old victim and a perpetrator who is in a position of trust, i.e., a teacher, the teenager cannot give consent and the cases are criminally charged.

Here in PA, the cases that get the most media attention are where a female teacher abuses a student, regardless of the gender of the victim.

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Sexual Abuse by Educators: A Study

The authors sought to address three specific questions that were all related to the gender of the educator who offended. Were there gender differences based on:

The age of the victim?
The grade the abuser taught?
How the offenses came to light?

Study Results

Age of the victims:

Male teachers who offended had victims that were significantly younger (12 & under)
Female teachers most often offended against students 13 and older

There were no differences between the genders in terms of the grade in school they taught.

I found an interesting revelation to be how the sexual abuse came to light:

When the person who engaged in the offending behavior was a man, the abuse was disclosed more often by the victim themselves, discovered by someone in the administration or through a police sting.
When the person who was the abuser was female, the abuse came to light more often through a report by another student or by a parent or guardian.

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Sexual Abuse Study Takeaways

These findings appear to support some of the stigma related to being the victim of sexual abuse perpetrated by a woman.

Often these victims are not believed when they do report the abuse, or they do not perceive the sexual interactions to be abusive.

This study was not designed to provide any causal explanations. Therefore, they do not attempt to make assertions as to why male educators abuse younger victims more than female educators. This would be a very interesting topic of study.

Ten Years Later

Ten years out from the publication of this study, it’s disappointing to realize that this abuse continues. In some cases, it may seem as though it has increased.

My opinion is that the behavior, teachers sexually abusing their students, has likely not increased.

With increased education and mandatory reporting laws, as well as the positive effects of things like the #metoo movement, it is more likely that these cases are simply being reported more often, holding those who engage in the abuse to account.

Inappropriate sexual behavior by educators should always be reported.

School needs to be a place of safety for children and educators need to be trustworthy custodians of our children’s education.

Reference: Ratliff, L. & Watson, J. (2014). A Descriptive Analysis of Public School Educators Arrested for Sex Offenses. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 23:2, 217-228.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Consult with a professional.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Are you looking for more reputable, data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

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Sex Abuse in the News

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 19:52:51 +0000

When I teach my graduate Human Sexuality course, we begin each class with “Sex in the News.” Unfortunately, this typically means we’re talking about Sex Abuse in the News.

I was reading the Wall Street Journal this morning and was struck how much reporting there was on sexual abuse in a financial paper.

By starting today, I missed much of the coverage of the Maxwell trial which brings sexual trafficking into the spotlight. Today’s WSJ topics related to sexual abuse.

Gymnasts who were victims of sexual abuse settle for $380 million

I cannot imagine anyone who has not heard of the USA Gymnastics sexual abuse scandal. Or it’s perpetrator Dr. Nassar.

The brave ladies who were victims of abuse have come forward. And several actually testified in front of Congress.

Yesterday, after over three years of waiting, a settlement was reached for the victims. The settlement was delayed due to a bankruptcy filing by the USOPC.

In addition, there is also a provision that allows for survivors of the sexual abuse to have official roles in USA Gymnastics. Michigan State University had previously settled a claim for $500 million dollars in 2018 brought by victims of Dr. Nassar when he was working in his capacity as a sports medicine doctor at that university.

There is still an ongoing FBI investigation into the mishandling of the allegations of abuse by the Deputy Attorney General in 2015 and 2016.

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Sex Abuse in the News and the Canadian Military

Yesterday Canada’s Defense Minister Anita Anand issued a statement and an apology to the members of the Canadian military who were harmed by the lack of enforcement of sexual harassment and abuse claims in the military. The issue came to light earlier this year when allegations were made against several high-ranking military officials. Some of these allegations have led to criminal charges being filed.

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Pope to Acknowledge Abuse in Canada

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has taken a different tact in handling the sexual abuse issues within the church.

The latest effort will come next year when he meets with indigenous Canadians. He will acknowledge the sexual abuse suffered by the children who were at church run indigenous schools.

While this is a move in the right direction, there are those who criticize the church’s efforts. The church only has laws in the US to remove a cleric after being found guilty of sexual abuse.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? consult with a professional.

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Institutional Abuse and How to Predict and Prevent it

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 12:34:17 +0000

Institutional abuse, stories of sexual harm from schools and churches, seems to be in the news almost every day.

This is both a good and a bad thing.

It is good because it means that more victims are starting to come forward, speak their truth and hold their abuser accountable.

I think it’s kinda obvious why it’s bad. No one should be able to abuse their position of power or authority.

So, How do we Prevent Institutional Abuse?

As with any type of sexual abuse, the question becomes, how do we prevent institutional abuse?

We all want to believe that there is some way to screen out those individuals who might be prone to sexually abusing others. We would love to bar them from becoming clergy, boy scout leaders, teachers, etc.

Despite the prevalence of this form of abuse, there is not a lot of research on institutional sexual abuse as a specific form of abuse.

ATSA’s most recent edition of their scientific journal, Sexual Abuse, was dedicated to the problem of institutional abuse.

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Scientific Studies and Research

I think it would be easier for most to believe there’s something unique about people who commit institutional abuse.

Harris and Terry (2019) indicate that child sexual abuse (CSA) perpetrators in institutional settings are similar to those who offend elsewhere.

Additionally, the factors that make children vulnerable to abuse are not unique to these settings either.

This makes it difficult to identify those who might abuse and keep them out of situations where they have easy access to victims.

Personality Characteristics and Institutional Abuse

Amrom, Calkins & Fargo (2019), researchers from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, looked at personality characteristics of sexual abusers.

They hoped to find a way to identify sexually abusive clergy.

They used the MMPI-2 and MCMI-III in the study, which are widely accepted personality measures.

What is known from studies of pre-employment MMPI-2s is that clergy applicants tend to present as:

Defensive
Extroverted
Compulsive
Self-confident
Uncomfortable with expressions of anger
Strongly needing approval

Additionally, past research shows us that Episcopal and Presbyterian clergy applicants tend to present as generally well adjusted, but do display elevations of narcissistic, compulsive and histrionic traits.

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The Categorization of Amrom’s Study

Amrom et. al.’s study looked at the MMPI-2 and MCMI-III of three categories of clergy:

Sent to treatment for child sexual abuse
Referred to treatment for noncriminal sexual behavior with adults
Referred to treatment for non-sexual reasons such as depression, drug, or alcohol problems

Finally, Amrom’s control group took the test for pre-employment and had no history of clinical or sexual issues.

Results of Amrom’s Study

Amrom’s study indicated there were no differences between the sexual abuse group and the sexual misconduct group.

There was, however, a difference between the sexual abuse group and the control group. The control group showed more signs of psychopathology than the sexual abuse group.

Amrom, et. al. identified an elevation on the MCMI-III’s Aggressive/Sadistic subscale for the sexual abuse group.

Ultimately, the authors opined that the MCMI-III and MMPI-2 were not able to distinguish between the four groups. Therefore, these personality measures aren’t very helpful for screening out potential sexual abusers from the clergy applicants.

Institutional Abuse and Grooming

Another study in the special edition by Spraitz and Bowen (2019) looked at the grooming techniques used by priests who have sexually abused.

Some studies have shown, in addition to traditional grooming techniques, clergy will use their role as priests or as an extension of God to abuse parishioners. The researchers analyzed records from several Archdioceses and unsealed records that all involved priests or monks in sexual abuse cases. They created a taxonomy of grooming techniques in the priest sexual abuse cases.

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What is Grooming?

Grooming is the process an abuser uses to create a “special” relationship with a victim and create opportunities to abuse. Typically the abuser is an adult and the victim is a child.

In this study, priests used the following techniques:

Giving alcohol, cigarettes or drugs to the victim
Giving gifts to the victim
Taking the victim on overnight trips
Physical contact
Using mentorship or friendship
Playing favorites
Creating a relationship with the family
Abusing the position of respect and reverence

Results of the Grooming Study

Unfortunately, the researchers found the grooming techniques of abusive clergy in their sample were no different from non-clergy.

The technique of abusing the position as a person of God was not an overt form of grooming.

They found that the use of this technique may not be “purposeful, overt, or done consciously in all instances.”

There were clergy who did use this technique overtly, but not many in this study.

Takeaways About Institutional Abuse

In short, the studies in this special issue of Sexual Abuse confirm, for the studies published, the individuals who perpetrate sexual abuse in institutions are not significantly different from those who abuse outside of institutions.

These results are frustrating as it would be a boon to the prevention of sexual abuse if there was a way to predict who might abuse versus who might not.

The research will continue and hopefully, in the future, more work will be published that can help institutional abuse prevention efforts.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Consult with a professional.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

As professionals, our time is valuable. Dr. Weeks created the Mitigation Aide Research Archive because there isn’t enough focused, data-backed research available in easily digestible formats.

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