The Murphy Report

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Write a critical review of a recent child abuse report. The Child Abuse report which I have decided to review is one which has interested me with a long time, The Murphy Report. After watching such films as “Song for a Raggy Boy” I have been completely focused on clerical child abuse, not only in relation to the abuse itself but to the psychological thinking behind it. Reading the Murphy Report which is about Clerical child abuse I have come to realise that the abuse was nothing but a catalogue of secrecy, cover up and inaction. The whole “scandal” is down to the church’s acceptance of abuse and it’s a pity that only 30 years later we are doing something about it. I think it is important to have a clear definition of what sexual abuse is before I go any further; Sexual abuse is defined as the intentional touching or molesting of the body of a child whether by a person or object for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification. The Murphy Report is a document produced by The Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation. This Commission was established to investigate the handling by church and state into the allegations of child sex abuse by clerics under the Archdiocese of Dublin between 1975 and 2004. It is important to know however that the Murphy Report is only concerned with the response of the church and state to the allegations and not in establishing whether or not abuse took place. The Report is made up of two parts, part one consists of organisational structures of the Archdiocese of Dublin, the Gardaí, the DPP and the Health Services. It also includes a general background into the complaints and procedures of the church in dealing with them. Part two consists of the representative sample of the 46 priests in remit. In relation to the cases of abuse I will discuss them in the end. The Commission received complaints of child sex abuse by 172 named
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