Framing Clergy Sexual Abuse as an Institutional Failure: How Tort Litigation Influences Media Coverage

Publication Title

William Mitchell Law Review

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2009

Abstract

Tort litigation against the Catholic Church is largely responsible for the widespread understanding of clergy sexual abuse as an institutional failure on the part of Church officials. This essay focuses on three features of tort litigation that explain why it exerts such a powerful influence on the framing of clergy sexual abuse. The article concludes with a brief discussion of two implications of the analysis, one for the current controversy over tort reform and the other for our understanding of child sexual abuse in institutional settings.

Comments

External Links

Westlaw

Lexis Advance

HeinOnline

SSRN

Recommended Citation

Timothy D. Lytton, Framing Clergy Sexual Abuse as an Institutional Failure: How Tort Litigation Influences Media Coverage, 36 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 169 (2009).

Volume

36

Issue

1

First Page

169

Last Page

185

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