A study commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002 and carried out by researchers at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, based on surveys the bishops themselves asked every US diocese and religious order to complete. It is the founding document of the modern accounting: it is the source of the 4,392 accused priests and 10,667 allegations figures that nearly every later inquiry and news account cites, covering the period 1950 to 2002. Its limits are its own methodology's limits, stated plainly rather than smoothed over: it counted what dioceses reported rather than independently auditing diocesan archives, so it is a floor on the true count, not a ceiling, and it does not cover abuse concealed well enough that no report was ever filed with a diocese at all.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Tier 1: the church's own commissioned, methodologically documented count, cited as the baseline figure by every later US inquiry and by academic literature on the crisis. NotesTier 1: the church's own commissioned, methodologically documented count, cited as the baseline figure by every later US inquiry and by academic literature on the crisis. Self-reported by dioceses rather than independently audited, a real limit named in the description rather than hidden.
Citation
AuthorJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice
PublisherUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Publication Year2004
URLhttps://www.bishop-accountability.org/reports/2004_02_27_JohnJay/
Source TypeReport
Claims Backed By This Source (36 claims)
This source backs 36 claims across the atlas. As facts: 28 well-attested. As cited relationships: 1 holds, 2 connected. Plus 5 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Articles, 13 claims: 9 well-attested, 1 connected, 3 general references.
- Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies, 12 claims: 10 well-attested, 1 holds, 1 general references.
- Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.
- Denominations, 3 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 connected, 1 general references.
Well-attested
28Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies
Holds
1Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies
General References
5Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies
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