Conceptualising Responses to Institutional Abuse of Children

Institutional abuse of children was ‘discovered’ in the 1980s, with concept diffusion in the 1990s. I explain why it emerged as a social problem and what factors triggered a response by authorities that ‘something must be done’ to address it. Some have argued that the 1980s was a time of a ‘moral panic’ about child sexual abuse, in particular, that fears of abuse were exaggerated and misdirected. Drawing from 19 major cases in Canada and Australia and those in other countries, I find that a moral panic analysis is not apt in understanding responses to institutional abuse.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/CICrimJust/2014/10.pdf