Sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles
The sexual abuse scandal in Los Angeles archdiocese covered events that were documented beginning in the 1930s, but most publicity was related to events of the 1970s through 1990s. Priests accused of molesting children or adults in the parish were typically reassigned, without informing new parishes of charges against them, as the church protected its staff. Changes in policy took place, a dozen priests were dismissed in 2002, the church issued an apology and detailed report in 2004, and in 2007, the Archdiocese reached a settlement with 508 victims of $660 million, a recordbreaking amount. More lawsuits are expected when the California statute of limitations will be temporarily lifted on January 1, 2020.[1][2]
Challenging aspects of investigations of sexual abuse[edit]
Although Cardinal Roger Mahony released a detailed report in 2004 on numerous cases of abuse in the archdiocese, he resisted releasing records on additional priests for which documentation had not been collected during investigation. Under his leadership, the Archdiocese appealed attempts by the Los Angeles County District Attorney to gain access to these church documents relating to sexual abuse all the way to the US Supreme Court. The Court refused to hear the appeal.
In 2006 the decision required the archdiocese to comply with a subpoena from the Los Angeles County District Attorney for letters to the former priests and notes from counseling sessions conducted by the church.[3]
2019 legal action[edit]
From May to December 2019, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles provided numerous documents to California State Attorney General Xavier Becerra in preparation for a series of pending lawsuits which are expected to be filed after a new California law which will temporarily remove the statute of limitations goes into effect on January 1, 2020.[1][2] In January 2020, it was reported that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles had paid $1.9 million to settle a sexual abuse case against a former priest who served in the Archdiocese.[10] In February 2020, a lawsuit was filed against not only the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, but also former Los Angeles ArchBishop Cardinal Roger Mahony and convicted ex priest Michael Baker.[11]
RICO lawsuit[edit]
On December 31, 2020, a lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) alleged that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles used the Diocese of Tucson as a "dumping ground" for clergy who were accused of sexual abuse while serving in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.[12][13]