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Assessing the Risk

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2016

Nicholas Coulton
Nicholas Coulton*
Affiliation:
Dean Emeritus of Newcastle
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Extract

While the English Church shared in celebrating the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, not least its own part in gaining those rights for everyone, the Church of England was reversing the principle that people are innocent until proved guilty. Such is the pressure of today's concern about child abuse, historic and present. As evidence mounts of the injustices done by false accusations against some high-profile public figures, we are less aware of the toll on other individuals whose turmoil does not hit the headlines. Those teaching and caring are often targeted for claims, and the Church of England has been toughening its procedures.

Keywords

Safeguardingjusticedouble jeopardydisclosure and barring
Type
Comment
Information
Ecclesiastical Law Journal , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 316 - 330
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2016 

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References

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10 Canon C 18(1), available at <https://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/churchlawlegis/canons/section-c.aspx#Head1-78> (accessed 30 May 2016).

11 Church of England, ‘Practice guidance: responding to serious safeguarding situations relating to church officers’ (24 June 2015, revised December 2015), p 19, available at <https://www.churchofengland.org/media/2254740/responding%20to%20serious%20situations.pdf>, accessed 30 May 2016.

12 Ibid.

13 Issued January 2006, revised February 2011 and July 2013. Re-issued with effect from 1 February 2014.

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15 Ibid.

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18 The allegations against Bishop Bell, and the Church of England's handling of those complaints, are among the matters being considered by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. See <https://www.iicsa.org.uk/investigations/investigation-into-failings-by-the-anglican-church>, accessed 30 May 2016.

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21 Ibid.

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