Book Description

Child Protection in the Church investigates whether, amidst publicised promises of change from church institutions and the introduction of "safe church" policies and procedures, reform is actually occurring within Christian churches towards safeguarding, using a case study of the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania, Australia.

Through the use of interviews and document analysis, the book provides an insight into the attitudes and practices of "ordinary clergypersons" towards child sexual abuse and safeguarding to understand how safe ministry is understood and executed in everyday life in the Church, and to what extent it aligns with policy requirements and criminological best practice. It adopts organisational culture theory, the perspective used to explain how clerical culture enabled and concealed child sexual abuse in the Church to the present, in order to understand how clerical attitudes (cognition) and practice (conduct) today is being shaped by some of the same negative cultures. Underlying these cultures is misunderstandings of abuse causation, which are shown here to negatively shape clerical practice and, at times, compromise policy and procedural requirements.

Providing an insight into the lived reality of safeguarding within churches, and highlighting the ongoing complexities of safe ministry, the book is a useful companion to students, academics, and practitioners of child protection and organisational studies, alongside clergy, church leaders, and those training for the ministry.

Item Type:	Authored Research Book
Keywords:	Anglican Church, child sexual abuse, situational crime prevention, organisational culture
Research Division:	Human Society
Research Group:	Criminology
Research Field:	Causes and prevention of crime
Objective Division:	Law, Politics and Community Services
Objective Group:	Justice and the law
Objective Field:	Crime prevention
UTAS Author:	Guerzoni, MA (Dr Michael Guerzoni)
ID Code:	145236
Year Published:	2021
Deposited By:	Sociology and Criminology
Deposited On:	2021-07-13
Last Modified:	2021-08-02
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