Why Organizations Cover Up Sexual Assault

The sexual abuse of minors at the hands of an adult they trusted is one of the most despicable crimes in the world. Those that commit these sex crimes should be punished to the full extent of the law, but in some cases, these predators are protected by higher institutions. This is especially true for Clergy Sex Abuse Lawsuits within churches.

Why, though, would a religious organization want to cover up clergy abuse accusations? Don’t they want these criminals to be brought to justice? There are numerous reasons as to why this happens.

There is a lot of power, and thus a vow of silence.

It’s no secret that the Catholic Church is an incredibly influential organization that spans the globe. There are a lot of powerful people in the Catholic Church, and thus it can be discouraged to speak up against them if someone learns of clergy sexual abuse.

They want to avoid facing a hard truth.

Learning that people within your organization are committing sexual abuse against minors is shocking and upsetting, to say the least. It’s much easier to deny it’s happening than to move forward with drawn-out and emotionally draining sexual abuse lawsuits.

They want to preserve their reputation.

When a sexual abuse lawsuit hits the media, the organization’s reputation is unavoidably tarnished. This is especially true if there was a cover-up of the sexual abuse. Large organizations don’t want their reputation to be completely ruined, so it may be easier to keep the sex abuse under wraps.

They don’t want to lose money.

After an organization’s reputation is impacted by a huge sexual abuse lawsuit, people are much less likely to support them. Donations will inevitably dwindle, which can be catastrophic for a nonprofit. In addition, the organization may end up spending hundreds of millions of dollars in Sexual Abuse Settlements, which was the case with the Catholic Church. Instead of losing money in the form of sex abuse settlements, the Catholic Church chose to cover up the clergy abuse for decades.