donderdag, augustus 08, 2019

Pennsylvania clergy abuse hotline fields nearly 2,000 calls in first year

HARRISBURG (PA)
Associated Press
August 6, 2019
By Mark Scolforo

Investigations remain underway after 1,862 calls were made to a clergy abuse hotline in the 12 months since a landmark grand jury report exposed decades of child abuse within Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses, the state attorney general said Tuesday.

About 90 percent of those calls concerned allegations of abuse or cover-ups within the Catholic church, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. The rest were about institutions or people outside the Catholic church.

“We’ve gotten calls that have materialized into charges that were filed,” Shapiro said. “One case involved charges that were filed by the Allegheny County District Attorney. Others are being investigated by other law-enforcement agencies, including our own.”
Shapiro said he has been stopped daily by people who are grateful for the investigation or want to tell him their own stories of victimization.

“That has been just a profoundly impactful experience,” Shapiro said. “It has happened to me at big, formal events with public figures, and it has happened to me walking through the supermarket, buying food for my family.”

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