John Jay researchers succumb to the scofflaw culture of the Catholic Church::

Source: John Jay Study Appendix, Cleric Survey, p. 5

Thanks to the John Jay report's confusing presentation of statistics, many media outlets wrongly reported that bishops had reported 14% of allegations to police.  However, since including information about reporting to police might have made bishops vulnerable to prosecution for failing to obey mandatory reporting laws in many states, the John Jay survey deliberately omitted this essential information.  Instead, without specifying who did the reporting, which was, as far as anyone can tell, victims and third parties,  the John Jay researchers included the following graphic:

Anyone who doubts the significance of the omissions in the John Jay study should bear in mind that no credible study of child sex abuse would leave out this information, that no credible study would be shaped by legal considerations, and that the bishops' efforts to protect their own self-interest determined the content of the report.

Also, if you think that this is a minor detail, imagine for a moment that you are a child who is being abused by a priest.  What is bound to be your most fervent wish?  To be rescued.  Who would be most likely to come to your aid?  The police.  For victims, in other words, the John Jay study recreates the defiance of secular authority and indifference to legal requirements that not only encouraged these violations in the first place, but also continue to prevent confirmed abusers from being held accountable for their crimes.

Methodology- How the study was carried out

Survey Responses. The data collection process lasted approximately eleven months. At first, many bishops and religious superiors had reservations about the study, and some explicitly opposed it. Through discussion, consultation, and the exchange of questions and responses, the research team was able to resolve the concerns of most of the bishops and major superiors, especially their worries about revealing the identities of accused priests.

Because all states present unique legal issues, the research team also worked with diocesan attorneys around the country to reduce their concerns and to ensure that the data collection process would not affect pending or potential law suits involving the Catholic Church.⁴  (p.6)

The Cleric Survey. The final section of the "Cleric Survey" focused on the actions taken by the Church in response to the allegations of abuse against this particular priest. These questions focused on the action taken by the church in response to the allegation (e.g., whether the priest was reprimanded, referred for treatment, or removed from duty). They also asked more specifically whether the priest participated in and/or completed any type of treatment, and the years in which those interventions would have occurred. The responses to the three sets of questions in this survey thus provided information on the scope and nature of the problem, information about those against whom allegations were made, and information about the church’s response to the alleged offenses. (p. 2)

"This is history" - Having presided over the longest and largest wave of crimes against children that the world has ever known, the bishops have not triggered any significant public intervention in any of the fifty states.

Note from the figure below that between 1970 and 1975, over 10% of diocesan priests were child molesters.  Also note that this figure does not cover the period indicated by the JJ researchers--it's off by more than a decade.  Such distortions are important because the time frame covered by the study--1950 -2002 -- allowed them to come up with lower percentages of abusers in the priesthood (4%) than they would have had they focused on the period between the 1960's and the present.  In other words, the study is skewed at one end because victims from 50 years ago are less likely and less available to report, and also skewed at the other end because we have yet to hear from most victims in the 1980's and 1990's. 

Translation: As horrifying as this report may seem, the reality is even worse.

Conclusion: Don't let a bishop count the men who might molest your kids.