More children are sexually abused in Utah than the national average.
Research from the Utah Women and Leadership Project at Utah State University finds that 1 in 7 children are abused in the state. Nationally, the rate is 1 in 9.
Washington state-based attorney Tim Kosnoff believes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints plays a part in this. He specializes in child abuse cases and is co-host of a new podcast called Architecture of Abuse. One of the podcast’s executive producers, Lindsay Hansen Park, is from Sunstone — a progressive nonprofit in Utah that focuses on Mormon studies.
“The problem is extensive, and it's not getting better,” Kosnoff said.
Since 1996, Kosnoff said he has handled more than 1,000 LDS child abuse cases, and most of them are settled. In his experience, these lawsuits get worse for the church in litigation. In his first trial, he said the church offered $25,000 to two girls who were being molested by their stepfather, but the jury awarded them $4.2 million.
The common thread through all these cases, Kosnoff said, is that the church handles child abuse as a sin to be treated through the faith’s repentance process, rather than as a crime.
“They believe that their clergy, through the power of discernment, have the ability to fix the child molester, the pedophile, the child rapist.”
He claims church leaders discourage reporting abuse to authorities.
The church responded by email to KUER’s request for comment by highlighting information on their website. The public-facing pages underscore that the church does not tolerate abuse in any form, and say that abuse should immediately be reported to legal authorities.
The email also pointed to other safety measures, like a required training for all adults who interact with minors and always having two adults present at youth activities. Additionally, the church has a 24/7 help line for bishops and stake presidents in the U.S. and Canada. It says it’s for guidance in helping victims and meeting reporting requirements.
The church’s website also says it has a process for calling adult leaders for minors. It says they have to get recommendations and go through an interview process, and then if there's “any indication of that person being involved in abusive behavior, that person is disqualified from serving in any capacity with youth or with children or youth.”
Youth leaders are also supposed to be interviewed at least twice a year.
To Kosnoff, “That sounds like a policy that's on paper, but I doubt that it is actually carried out in reality, and I haven't seen any evidence of that.”
He points out that the church has volunteer clergy. Oftentimes, bishops have full-time jobs and families.
“And if the church was serious about it, they'd actually put some money behind it. You know, have a full-time human resources director in the stake who does full-fledged vetting,” Kosnoff said.
In their podcast, they bring together experts to explore why and how abuse has happened within the LDS Church and to ask if it can do better.
“And our belief is they can.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Ciara Hulet: Redemption and forgiveness are a big part of Latter-day Saint theology. Are people too quick to forgive? Is there a place for forgiveness for people who've paid for their crimes?
Tim Kosnoff: Well, forgiveness is not something that a perpetrator, a wrongdoer, is entitled to. The decision to forgive belongs to the victim, and too often, the church pressures victims into forgiving on the church's timetable, and sometimes they don't even ask for the OK. They just do it.
I've seen it in my cases where abusers were known to the church. It's always confidential and secret. So as a ward member, you could be sitting there at Sunday sacrament next to somebody you wouldn't let come within 1,000 miles of your child. And your bishop, your stake president, knows about this individual and hasn't warned you or told you because they are counseling with him. And I've had cases where the perpetrator says that he's repented and he won't do it again, and that's sufficient to put him right back into the scouting program, or young men's or, you know, back where he has access to children.
CH: Are the perpetrators people who are working with youth in the church, or bishops or stake presidents?
TK: Well, all of the above. There's no profile. They come from all walks of life, all demographics. If you build a permissive, open system, which the Mormon church is, you will get child molesters. We don't know statistically how much worse the problem is in this area, but I'll tell you one thing — the church knows through its robust record-keeping. But so far, we haven't been able to get those in the Mormon church cases. I think that's going to change, and I think that may be one of the reasons why the church is much more inclined to settle these cases early.
CH: The church instructs bishops and stake presidents in the U.S. and Canada to call the church’s help line in every case of abuse brought to their attention. In the cases you've been part of, how has that played out?
TK: It rings in directly to the offices of the Kirton McConkie law firm in Salt Lake, no matter where you call. So you're not getting help from a social worker. You're going directly to a lawyer whose ethical responsibility is exclusively to protect the interests of the Mormon church.
CH: What changes do you think the church could make to protect children?
TK: One, eliminate the help line. Have a standing instruction that if you, as a bishop or stake president, if there's just a reasonable suspicion that a child has been abused, refer to the authorities. There are certain categories that are mandated reporters, but anybody can be a reporter. Personally, I believe that there should be universal mandatory reporting for everybody, period.
