Examining the Past and Shaping the Future

This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the work of the The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2013-17) and its social, psychological, legal and discursive impact.

Katie Wright is Associate Professor of Sociology at La Trobe University in Melbourne. Shurlee Swain is Emeritus Professor at the Australian Catholic University. Kathleen McPhillips is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Newcastle.

Preface 1. Introduction: Bringing Child Sexual Assault into Public Discourse- The Australian Child Abuse Royal Commission 2. Institutional Abuse: A Long History 3. "Children in a Terrible State": Understandings of Trauma and Child Sexual Assault in 1970s and 1980s Australia 4. Challenging Institutional Denial: Psychological Discourse, Therapeutic Culture and Public Inquiries 5. Sexual Abuse as the Core Transgression of Childhood Innocence: Unintended Consequences for Care Leavers 6. Inequalities of Redress: Australia's National Redress Scheme for Institutional Abuse of Children 7. "I Fought. I Screamed. I Bit": The Assertion of Rights Within Historic Abuse Inquiry Transcripts 8. "Soul Murder": Investigating Spiritual Trauma at the Royal Commission 9. Abuse and Cruelty in Religious Bureaucracy: The Case of the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle