Category: Uncategorized

New Research May Help Victims of Traumatic Abuse

by John McKiggan

Memories of Abuse
As a lawyer who helps people with sexual abuse compensation claims one of the most common challenges my clients face is dealing with the intrusive effects of the memories of their abuse.

In the text Principles of Trauma Therapy: A Guide to Symptoms, Evaluation, and Treatment the authors John Briere and Catherine Scott identify several areas where memories of childhood abuse may effect psychological function in adults:

Negative pre-verbal assumptions and relational schemata: In other words, children who are victims of abuse tend to have a disproportionately negative self image. As adults, survivors become too defensive, angry or disconnected to have healthy inter-personal relationships.

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Posted in: Child Abuse, Treatment, Uncategorized

Is Solitary Confinement Cruel & Unusual Punishment: Ashley Smith inquest to probe CSC

by John McKiggan

It is a well established principle of justice that the punishment must fit the crime. But what if the “punishment” involves subjecting the person to “severe psychiatric harm”.

Jailed for Throwing Apples

When Ashley Smith was 15 years old the Moncton, New Brunswick teenager threw some crab apples at a postal worker delivering mail to her house. The postal worker charged her with assault. Ashley was given a 90-day sentence. But she remained incarcerated for more than four years! This ridiculously excessive period of incarceration was supposedly due to disciplinary infractions that occurred while Ashley was in custody.

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Posted in: Prison Abuse, Uncategorized

Elder Abuse – How Do We Protect our Vulnerable Loved Ones?

by John McKiggan

What is Elder Abuse?

Elder abuse, much like spousal or child abuse, occurs when there is a vulnerable person who is abused or mistreated by those who are in a position of power or trust. In the case of elder abuse the vulnerable person is a senior who may be abused in any number of ways; physically, or financially. The abuse can be inflicted by a spouse, child or other family member, by caregivers, service providers, or any other person in a position of trust.

The U.S. National Center on Elder Abuse defines 6 major types of Elder Abuse:

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Posted in: Elder Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized

Child Pornography Reporting Laws

by John McKiggan

A new California law mandates that computer technicians who discover child pornography MUST report it immediately to a specified child protection agency. Laws like this are proven to help catch sexual predators and those who protect them. A recent example is the convictions of Father Shawn Ratigan and Bishop Robert Finn.

Bishop Failed to Report Child Porn

In December of 2010 a computer technician found “alarming pictures” of children on Reverend Ratigan’s laptop. Despite the pictures being shown to Bishop Finn, the Bishop decided not to report Ratigan to police.

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Posted in: Child Abuse, Uncategorized

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops Updating Guidelines on Priest Sexual Abuse

by John McKiggan

Canadian Catholic Bishops are attending their annual Conference this week. The Conference (the CCCB) runs from Sept. 24-28th and is expected to include approximately 90 Bishops from across Canada.

New Rules?

One of the important items on their agenda is the updating of their guidelines for the prevention of clerical sexual abuse. On their approach to the new guidelines the CCCB president, Archbishop Richard Smith told The Catholic Register:

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Posted in: Class Actions, Clergy Abuse, Priest Abuse, Priest Sexual Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized, Vatican

Vicarious Liability for Sexual Abuse: When Should Peter Pay for Paul?

by John McKiggan

What is vicarious liability?

As a lawyer who deals with sexual abuse compensation claims, I frequently have to explain the concept of vicarious liability to my clients.

Black’s Law Dictionary defines it as:
“Liability that a supervisory party (such as an employer) bears for the actionable conduct of a subordinate or associate (such as an employee) because of the relationship between the two parties.”
Basically vicarious liability holds an employer responsible for the wrongful acts of an employee, even when the employer didn’t necessarily know about the wrongful acts.

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Posted in: Uncategorized, Vicarious Liability

Irish Bishop’s Apology: Evidence of a much bigger problem?

by John McKiggan

Sexual Abuse Was “Friendship”?!

Dr. John Kirby, a Catholic Bishop in Ireland, recently apologized for the role he played in transferring abusive priests from one parish to another. In an attempt to explain his decisions he stated:
“I was unaware of the recidivist nature, or the compulsive nature of sexual abuse and I felt that it was a friendship that had gone astray, and was wrong.”
Kirby’s “apology” came after a number of audits were done on different religious congregations in Ireland which uncovered more than 330 allegations of abuse against 146 priests and members of the congregations.

Bishop Kirby said his actions were the standard church response of the time.

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Posted in: Child Abuse, Clergy Abuse, Priest Abuse, Priest Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized

Reminder – 6 Days Left to File Residential School Claims: September 19 Deadline Looms

by John McKiggan

I have been representing the survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School for 17 years.

As I explained during the Truth and Reconcilaition Hearings that were held in Halifax, Nora Bernard played a key role in the landmark Indian Residential School class action. The class action settlement was the largest historical redress settlement in the world.

For the last 5 years, former students of Indian Residential Schools who were victims of physical or sexual abuse have been able to apply for compensation under the Independant Assessment Process.

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Posted in: Residential School Claims, Uncategorized

Guidelines to help prevent child abuse

by John McKiggan

I was doing some research to write an article about what organizations can do to prevent child abuse when I came across this article written by my colleague Minneapolis attorney, Mike Bryant.

The article is short and to the point and links out to a variety of articles that non-profits, churches and other organizations can use when coming up with policies and guidelines to help prevent child abuse.

How Organizations Can Prevent Lawsuits for The Abuse of Children

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Posted in: Child Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized
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