"It's always silence that causes the most damage": a case study of the Earl Bradley child sex abuse case
Date
2016
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
In recent years, several institutional child sexual abuse cases have come to the attention of the criminal justice system, policymakers, and the public. To date, our understandings of these cases involve 1) media reports of the criminal investigations, trials, and punishments that ensued; 2) social commentaries on the cases; 3) commissioned reports that detail the extent of the abuse; 4) law review articles on controversial or important legal aspects of the cases; and, 5) commentaries/research that examine the extent of the abuse or simply theorize about how institutional context shaped the abuse. Absent in this coverage are more in-depth examinations of how institutions, organizations and professions – on the ground level - allow these cases to persist.
This dissertation presents a case study of an institutional child sex abuse case that occurred at the hands of a trusted community pediatrician in Delaware (subsequently referred to as the Bradley case). Using 27 in-depth interviews with criminal justice, medical, and victim service professionals, this research uses a constructionist approach to explore the relationship between different institutions pertinent to the case and how institutions create and reinforce norms and the meaning of these norms through their legal/policy responses to allegations of child sexual abuse.
The findings illustrate that victims and whistleblowers are often silenced when making allegations against more socially powerful offenders. This silence is perpetuated by the structure and culture of professions that preserve specific ideas about certain groups of people, including victims, offenders, and other professionals. In the end, professional norms prioritize the voices of already privileged groups, and elite groups protect their own. In addition, competing claims of justice existed among groups of professionals in the Bradley case that created a contradiction between doing the right thing and doing things right. Consequently, several professionals questioned whether following the rule of law truly brought about justice in the case. Thus, while there is a growing reliance on the criminal justice system to bring about justice in cases of victimization, professionals need to work together and increase collaborative work. Future research and additional recommendations for future implementation are also discussed.