Limitaciones de la investigación

SCP theorists argue that crime is opportunity-based.⁴⁴⁰ The core concept of SCP is “opportunity reduction,” and investigations employing this theory focus on the imme-diate physical environment that makes particular crimes possible, as well as situational conditions that induce criminality.⁴⁴¹ This approach assumes that offenders have agency/free will and decide to commit a crime because, in their view (limited though it may be), it benefits them to do so. In other words, offenders evaluate costs and benefits of their actions based on specific situational

circumstances.⁴⁴² The advantage of this approach is that it does not require an in‐depth understanding of the offend-er’s ultimate motive to commit a crime. All criminals seek to successfully complete their task at hand, which in this case is the crime of sexual abuse. Unlike most other criminological approaches that focus on criminal agents and seek to understand why people commit crimes, SCP focuses on examining the criminal event (as opposed to the offender). Importantly, SCP research focuses primarily on objective criminal behaviors rather than subjective offenders’ perspectives to understand how crimes are suc-cessfully committed. The purpose is to discover the oppor-tunity structure and situational factors that facilitate crime commission. SCP analysts then identify specific points to intervene with targeted prevention strategies that manipulate the situational factors to reduce crime.

SCP is a dynamic framework, and the number and type of intervention techniques has steadily increased over the years. Currently five general strategies encompass twenty-five techniques (see Table 5.1)⁴⁴³ that are used to prevent crime.⁴⁴⁴

Crime-prevention techniques, as depicted in Table 5.1, range from “hard” to “soft” approaches. Hard strategies (such as blockading the cockpit on airplanes that make the pilots inaccessible to potential terrorists) incapacitate targets and make it impossible for the crime to be com-mitted. In other words, the suspect desires to commit the crime, but the implemented SCP strategies prevent him or her from accomplishing the illegal act. Soft techniques (such humanizing potential victims) reduce situational prompts/cues that increase a person’s motivation to com-mit a crime during a specific event. These techniques, in turn, prevent a crime from occurring at a particular time.

To date, dozens of empirical studies (encompassing case studies, experiments, and other quantitative tests) have evaluated situational interventions.⁴⁴⁵ These studies are highly supportive of SCP and found that most situational interventions lead to crime reductions. Importantly, most studies also found little support for the “crime displace-ment” critique of SCP (that is, that an offender thwarted in one situation will simply commit the same crime some-where else or turn to another type of crime). The empirical tests of SCP find that displacement either does not occur, or if it does, there is, nevertheless, overall crime reduction.

Researchers traditionally studied the role of opportu-nities and the environment in the commission of prop-erty offenses. Recently, however, the role of opportunity has been studied in cases of sexual abuse, boundary vio-lations, and sexual harassment in institutional settings.⁴⁴⁶ Specifically, research has been published regarding sexual harassment in sports,⁴⁴⁷ boundary violations in therapeu-tic relationships,⁴⁴⁸ sexual abuse of students by profes-sors,⁴⁴⁹ sexual abuse in foster/residential child care,⁴⁵⁰ and

sexual abuse within youth-serving organizations.⁴⁵¹ Celia Breckenridge and Marianne Cerise, the leading research-ers who study sexual abuse of athletes, have suggested that increased risk occurs at the point of potential achieve-ment, especially if this point coincides with or just pre-cedes puberty.⁴⁵² This observation is consistent with stud-ies of sexual abuse of adolescents by prstud-iests, whereby abuse typically occurs as the pre- or postpubertal boy becomes active in religious activity.⁴⁵³ The studies of the sexual vic-timization of youths in state care in the United Kingdom also found that adolescents are at increased risk of abuse.⁴⁵⁴

In their study of sexual offenders in Australia, Wortley and Smallbone observed seven factors that are consistent with a situational explanation of child sexual abuse.⁴⁵⁵ Specifically, they stated that child sexual abusers have (1) a late onset of deviant behavior; (2) a low incidence of chronic sexual offending; (3) a high incidence of pre-vious nonsexual offenses; (4) a low incidence of stranger abuse; (5) a low incidence of networking among offend-ers; (6) a low incidence of child pornography use; and (7) a low incidence of paraphilic behavior. The authors also note that location is an important factor in the com-mission of sexual offenses, for sexual abuse almost always occurs in private and often in the home of the offender.

LeClerc et al. studied adolescent sex offenders and noted that they abide by various “scripts” (coercive, manipula-tive, and nonpersuasive) and that they “can switch from one strategy to another according to situational factors, such as crime location, when committing crimes.”⁴⁵⁶

Furthermore, Wortley and Smallbone theorized that SCP techniques could be applied to reduce opportuni-ties for sexual victimization.⁴⁵⁷ They postulated that it would be possible to do so by increasing effort (control-ling access to facilities, target hardening and control(control-ling tools); increasing risk (amplifying the threat of detection for a specific act); controlling prompts (reducing situ-ational triggers); and reducing permissibility (clarifying the role the offender plays in the abusive behavior). The situational components associated with child sexual abuse, as noted by Wortley and Smallbone, are apparent also in the data collected for the Nature and Scope study. ⁴⁵⁸ The data indicate a situational component to sexual abuse by priests that is similar to abuse by nonclergy offenders, par-ticularly those who abuse children with whom they have developed a nurturing relationship. As such, applying the SCP framework of increasing effort, increasing risk, con-trolling prompts, and reducing permissibility may reduce the occurrence of abusive behavior by priests or others who develop nurturing relationships with children and adolescents. The Nature and Scope data, the VAC surveys, and the survivor surveys provided information about the situations in which abuse occurred.

Nature and Scope Data

The Nature and Scope data indicate that situational factors play a role in the onset of abusive behavior. Analysis of this data included the professional role of the priests who were abusers, where the abuse took place, during what types of activities the abuse occurred, and whether such circum-stances differed depending on the gender of the victims.

Table 5.2 shows the gender of victims by five-year intervals. Interestingly, an increase in the number of male victims occurred during the peak years of the abuse cri-sis. Two explanations for this trend are possible: first, it can be hypothesized that priests would have been seek-ing out male victims to abuse, or alternatively, it can be hypothesized thatpriests would have been abusing the victims to whom they had access. If the first hypothesis is supported, an indication of this activity would be found in the clinical (individual-level) data. In other words, more men would be driven by pathologies related to the sexual abuse of minors. The clinical data do not support this explanation (see Chapter 3). If the second hypothesis is supported, then priests would have had more access to males and would have been committing more offenses with those to whom they had access. Though it is diffi-cult to test this hypothesis with retrospective data, this assertion is supported by additional data, shown below in Table 5.2 and Figure 5.2. The data show that the highest percentage of males were abused at the peak of the crisis.

This finding also corresponds with the highest levels of alcohol/substance use during the abuse time period, which is consistent with the literature on “situational” abuse of minors.⁴⁵⁹ Additionally, it should be noted that altar serv-ers could only be male until the promulgation to the revi-sions of canon law in 1983 (and confirmed through letters from Pope John Paul II in 1992). The Table and Figure below show the substantial increase in the percentage of female victims in the late 1990s and 2000s, when priests had more access to them in the church.

The notion of the abuser’s sexual identity is called to question when interpreting these data. If sexual iden-tity and abuse of a minor by gender were linked, then an increase in homosexual men in the priesthood would have led to an increase in the abuse of male victims compared to female victims. Data on the sexual identity of priests and how it changed over the years were not collected for this study. However, other researchers have collected this data (as presented in Chapter 2), and these studies show an increase in the number of homosexual men in the priesthood over the time period of the Nature and Scope study. If it was the case that there were more homosexual men in the seminaries in the 1980s, this increase does not correspond to an increase in the number of boys who were abused. Therefore, the evidence does not support

Increase the Effort Increase the RisksReduce the RewardsReduce ProvocationsRemove Excuses 1.Target harden Steering column locks and immobilizers Anti-robbery screens Tamper-proof packaging 6. Extend guardianship Take routine precautions: go out in group at night, leave signs of occupancy, carry phone “Cocoon” neighborhood watch 11. Conceal targets Off-street parking Gender-neutral phone directories Unmarked bullion trucks

16. Reduce frustrations and stress Efficient queues and polite service Expanded seating Soothing music/muted lights

21. Set rules Rental agreements Harassment codes Hotel registration 2.Control access to facilities Entry phones Electronic card access Baggage screening

7.Assist natural surveillance Improved street lighting Defensible space design Support whistleblowers 12. Remove targets Removable car radio Women’s refuges Pre-paid cards for pay phones 17. Avoid disputes Separate enclosures for rival soccer fans Reduce crowding in pubs Fixed cab fares

22. Post instructions “No Parking” “Private Property” “Extinguish camp fires” 3.Screen exits Ticket needed for exit Export documents Electronic merchandise tags

8.Reduce anonymity Taxi driver IDs “How’s my driving?” decals School uniforms 13. Identify property Property marking Vehicle licensing and parts marking Cattle branding 18. Reduce emotional arousal Controls on violent pornography Enforce good behavior on soccer field Prohibit racial slurs

23. Alert conscience Roadside speed display boards Signatures for customs declarations “Shoplifting is stealing” signs 4.Deflect offenders Street closures Separate bathrooms for women Disperse pubs/bars

9.Utilize place managers CCTV for double-deck buses Two clerks for convenience stores Reward vigilance 14. Disrupt markets Monitor pawn shops Controls on classified ads License street vendors 19. Neutralize peer pressure “Idiots drink and drive” “It’s OK to say No” Disperse troublemakers at school

24. Assist compliance Easy library checkout Public lavatories Litter bins 5.Control tools/ weapons “Smart” guns Disabling stolen cell phones Restrict spray paint sales to juveniles

10.Strengthen formal surveillance Red light cameras Burglar alarms Security guards 15. Deny benefits Ink merchandise tags Graffiti cleaning Speed humps 20. Discourage imitation Rapid repair of vandalism V-chips in TVs Censor details of modus operandi 25. Control drugs and alcohol Breathalyzers in pubs Server intervention Alcohol-free events

Table 5.1 Twenty-Five Techniques of Situational Crime Prevention

the hypothesis that an increase in homosexual men in the priesthood will lead to an increase in the abuse of boys.

Figures 5.3 and 5.5 display the average length of time, or “duration,” of an incident of abuse in years for male and female victims. Although almost 40 percent of the inci-dents of abuse lasted less than one year, the 20 percent of incidents that persisted longer than two years increases the average for both boys and girls. When all Nature and Scope data is considered, almost one-third of incidents took place once. Another 18 percent were reported to have taken place “more than once,” and slightly more than 50 percent took place “numerous times.” Figures 5.4 and 5.6 display the comparative frequency of incidents occurring once, more than once, and numerous times, as measured in five-year intervals over the study period.

These Nature and Scope data show no significant dif-ference in the average duration of abuse for male and female victims, or for the frequency of the abuse. These findings again indicate that the duration and frequency of abuse are affected by situational factors rather than psy-chological or gender-specific factors. Note that the dura-tion and frequency of the abuse for both males and females decreased from the 1980s onward, with notable decreases in the 1990s. This decline corresponds to the increased knowledge about sexual abuse in society at this time (see Chapter 1), knowledge of abuse in the church (see Chap-ter 2), and implementation of policies to reduce sexual abuse in the church (see Chapter 4).

Table 5.3 shows that both male and female victims met the priests who abused them under similar circum-stances. The most common venue was in the church, with girls slightly more likely to meet the abuser in school and in their own homes. Likewise, the places and situa-tions in which the victims were abused were consistent for males and females, as indicated in Tables 5.4 and 5.5.

Slightly higher incidences of the abuse of males occur in hotel rooms, vacation houses, and outings, as well as dur-ing travel and church service (such as altar service). This result would be expected given that priests had substan-tially higher levels of access to boys at such events. The most common venue in which children were abused was in the parish residence (shown in Table 5.4). Not surpris-ingly, then, the priests’ primary role at the time of the abuse was most commonly a pastor or an assistant pastor (indicated in Table 5.6). The primary role of the abuser is important to note, as it has significant implications for situational crime prevention techniques.

In sum, the Nature and Scope data indicate substantial situational impact on abuse. There is consistency in how male and female victims met the priests who abused them, where the abuse occurred, and under what circumstances the abuse took place. This consistency is evident despite the substantial difference in the percentage of males and

females abused. Overall, the constancy of the data indi-cates that opportunity plays a significant role in the choice of victims.

Victim Assistance Coordinator (VAC) and