I was just wondering if anyone has heard of any lawsuits against the JW organization being held accountable for sexual, physical or mental child abuse? If a child goes to an elder and asks for help, aren't they legally responsible to ensure the childs safety by going to the authorities (police, not governing body)?
Legal Liability towards JW Organization for Abuse
by sassy-ex-jw 2 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Junction-Guy
I dont know of any lawsuits that were won, but there were 16 lawsuits just recently settled by the WT Society for molestation.
Also to answer your question, elders are only required to contact the authorities in certain states. Some states allow clegry privilege and dont require reporting. -
flipper
Sassy- Yes there have been and are in the process right now alot of lawsuits being thrown at the Jehovah's Witness org. about this issue as we speak. The 16 the junction guy mentioned would of gone to court, had the Witness lawyers not agreed to a settlement with the victims of abuse there in California. If the witnesses hadn't settled out of court, the courts would have forced them to release names of over 25,000 pedophiles they have in their database system. I know for a fact more of these lawsuits are in the works, because I personally talked with Bill Bowen, founder of Silent Lambs ( a child abuse help organization for witness molestation victims) a couple of days ago on the phone and he verified it. Look at the threads on this board dealing with child abuse. As junction guy mentions some states might have what they call "clergy penitent privilege" which means they can keep confidential information and names of molesters when counseling molestation victims. But not in California anymore as of October 2006. The lid was blown off that when the witness attorneys were trying to conceal these 16 molestation victims ordeals by claiming they needed this "clergy confidentiality to help victims". The courts ruled against the witnesses, saying, "You can't keep it from the authorities and confidential if it's felony child abuse and endangerment". Right on!!! So the witnesses were forced to either settle out of court with these victims or they'd have to hand over all the names of their 27,000 pedophiles on their secret database system they have. We all hope it helps reveal more as time goes on and peace to all abuse victims.