One of the key submissions to the ARC was a document WAT.0021.001.0001, which is a spreadsheet summarising the 1006 case files subpoenaed from the WT's Australian branch and is available on the ARC website. I had a detailed look at the data and discovered a few things that may be of interest:
Although the 1006 cases cover reports made in a 65 year period from 1950 to 2015, almost half of all cases (449) were first reported in the 10 years from 2000 to 2009 and 87% were first reported after 1990.
The two witness rule was a factor in preventing at least 125 cases from proceeding to a judicial committee.
There were 163 cases with 336 victims where the perpetrator was an elder or MS.
The total number of victims was 1,858.
From time to time on this forum I have read comments suggesting that false reports of child sexual abuse are quite common. All of the evidence I have seen suggests that it is uncommon. The ARC case file data contains evidence that most of the reports were reliable. There was a confession in at least 579 cases. An additional 163 cases involved multiple accusers. An additional 70 cases had sufficient evidence for the accused to be disciplined by a JW JC. An additional 16 cases showed evidence of secular court action and conviction. That means that there were good grounds for believing the accusers in at least 828 cases. Many of the remaining cases were not acted on internally due to the two witness rule. It is sobering to contemplate.