The leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses has boldly defied court orders to turn over the names and whereabouts of alleged child sexual abusers across the United States.
Hidden Abuse Under the Watchtower
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have systematically instructed leaders to keep child sexual abuse secret from law enforcement and members of their own congregations.
Posted inHidden Abuse Under the Watchtower, Religion, Religion and Government
A reader’s guide to the Jehovah’s Witnesses child sex abuse scandal
Here’s a quick rundown of the major findings from our running investigation into the religion’s efforts to hide child sex abuse.
Posted inHidden Abuse Under the Watchtower, Religion
How child sex abusers get reinstated as Jehovah’s Witnesses
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.
Posted inHidden Abuse Under the Watchtower, Religion
Jehovah’s Witnesses fight law on reporting child sex abuse to police
A case highlights the struggle of courts to interpret a convoluted web of clergy reporting laws that stretches across U.S.
Posted inHidden Abuse Under the Watchtower, Religion
Another judge criticizes Jehovah’s Witnesses’ court tactics
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.
Posted inHidden Abuse Under the Watchtower, Religion
In England, more accusations that Jehovah’s Witnesses hid sex abuse
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 […]
Posted inHidden Abuse Under the Watchtower, Inside the Newsroom
Reveal mixtape: The best of 2015
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.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Hidden Abuse Under the Watchtower, Religion
Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders say they don’t protect sexual abusers
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 […]
Posted inHidden Abuse Under the Watchtower, Inside the Newsroom, Left for Dead, Oil and Mining, Opiates, Rape on the Night Shift, Religion, Returning Home to Battle
Curl up with Reveal’s top #longreads from 2015
Check out five pieces of our best long-form writing from 2015, as selected by Reveal’s staff.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Hidden Abuse Under the Watchtower, Religion
How Jehovah’s Witness leaders are responding to child abuse scrutiny
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.