Our Father who art in prison: Conviction and rehabilitation for Australian Catholic clergy who are child sexual offenders.

ABSTRACT

In light of the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, this article analyses the custodial sentences of 143 Australian Catholic clergy. The majority of these sentences were for convictions for indecent assault for which the median sentence was two years' imprisonment. It is doubtful whether the Australian community would consider such sentences as adequate, particularly where offences were against children. Current Australian legislation allows for ongoing long-term sanctions, including judicial orders for chemical castration, to be imposed on convicted sex offenders, especially those assessed as being at high risk of re-offending. Clergy on parole are likely to be prohibited from resuming most pastoral responsibilities on the grounds of high actuarial risk of re-offending, but what limited data are available suggests that priests may have low rates of re-offending. If priests do have low rates of recidivism, what then should the Catholic Church do about priests convicted of child sexual abuse offences who want to return to pastoral work and how might they be managed and monitored? Laicisation of offender priests will inevitably produce ostracism and isolation which are conducive to re-offending.