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Internal documents obtained by Reveal show that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have systematically instructed elders and other leaders to keep child sexual a
As a case study into the secretive world of Jehovah’s Witnesses, one woman’s shunning is particularly striking. Her family, her congregation and Witne
Debbie McDaniel, an expelled Jehovah’s Witness, spoke to Reveal about how the organization hides sexual abuse from law enforcement agencies and banish those who speak up about it. Then, just hours before the investigation published, her patio, windows, doors and furniture were tagged with ominous warnings written in black marker.
Here’s a quick rundown of the major findings from our running investigation into the religion’s efforts to hide child sex abuse.
One abuse case in Australia highlights a pattern among Jehovah’s Witnesses: Elders fail report child sexual abuse to secular authorities. The perpetrator is kicked out of the organization, only to be reinstated later.
A case highlights the struggle of courts to interpret a convoluted web of clergy reporting laws that stretches across U.S.
A panel of judges in Philadelphia has ruled that Jehovah’s Witnesses used an “abusive tactic” to delay a trial in which a woman accused the religion’s leaders of covering up her abuse as a child.
Claims that Jehovah’s Witnesses hide child sexual abuse from secular authorities have surfaced again in England. The Daily Mail reported last week that Ian Pheasey, a 54-year-old Jehovah’s Witness, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for choking young girls for sexual gratification in the 1990s. Prosecutor Nicholas Taplow said that Pheasey’s victims were told to
Need something to listen to during this holiday season? Now’s the perfect time to check out our show, “Reveal,” public radio’s new investigative reporting show and podcast.
In the face of evidence that the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization in Australia failed to report more than 1,000 allegations of child sexual abuse, the religion’s leaders say they’re doing a great job of protecting children. The response comes from a 141-page document filed by the Witnesses to an Australian government commission investigating rampant child sexual
Check out five pieces of our best long-form writing from 2015, as selected by Reveal’s staff.
A Portuguese news documentary released in October was yet another report from across the globe to detail the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ policy of not reporting child abusers to law enforcement. As in other media reports, top officials refused to speak to the journalists who produced it.
Under the “theocratic warfare” doctrine, Jehovah’s Witnesses are allowed to hide the truth from anyone outside of the religion – including in legal matters such as child sexual abuse cases – if doing so protects the organization.
