Coverage and Liability Issues in Sexual Misconduct Claims

Did you know? The John Jay College of Criminal Justice Study of Sexual Misconduct inthe Catholic Church found there were 4,392 priests accused of engagingin sexual abuse of 10,667 minor victims between 1950 and 2002 andthat 81% of the victims were male. The above-referenced study also found that the majority of the priests’victims (78%) between 1950 and 2002 were between the ages of 11 and17 when the abuse began. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American PsychiatricAssociation (IV) classifies pedophilia as a psychiatric disorder anddefines it as the sexual attraction of an adult to pre-pubescent children.This is contrasted with “ephehophilia”, the term for homosexualattraction to adolescent males. Per the National Clearinghouse "Child Maltreatment 2003" report,in 2003, 906,000 children in the U.S. were victims of abuse or neglect.Of this number 9.9 percent, or 89,694 children were reportedly sexuallyabused. This number is relatively unchanged from the 10 percent or89,600 reported in 2002. Virginia's Fairfax County Child Protective Services currently estimatesthat nationally, 1 in 4 girls, 1 in 7 boys, and 15 to 25 percent of allchildren may be sexually abused.– 19 –