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Shunning and family · Claim record

The Australian Royal Commission found in October 2016 that shunning is 'an inextricable component of the institutional response to child sexual abuse', that the practice 'has the very real potential of putting a survivor in the untenable position' of choosing between sharing a community with the abuser and losing that community, that it 'makes it extremely difficult for a person to leave', and listed the policy among the organisation's problematic practices; Governing Body member Geoffrey Jackson had testified that leaving can be 'personally devastating'.

Claim ID claim-shunning-australia-royal-commission-2016Concerns 1 October 2016Independent finding
Independent finding · 1 October 2016 Verified

The Australian Royal Commission found in October 2016 that shunning is 'an inextricable component of the institutional response to child sexual abuse', that the practice 'has the very real potential of putting a survivor in the untenable position' of choosing between sharing a community with the abuser and losing that community, that it 'makes it extremely difficult for a person to leave', and listed the policy among the organisation's problematic practices; Governing Body member Geoffrey Jackson had testified that leaving can be 'personally devastating'. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Australia), Report of Case Study No. 29: The response of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd to allegations of child sexual abuse, October 2016

The organisation’s position or later explanation: The organisation submitted that shunning was 'outside the Terms of Reference and has no immediate relevance', which the Commission rejected.

Show the evidence (1 source)
Official public record Verified

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Australia), Report of Case Study No. 29: The response of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd to allegations of child sexual abuse, “Section 7.7 Shunning; summary of problematic policies (p. 13)”

October 2016 · pp.13, 70-72 · section 7.7; endnotes 618-636 · Commonwealth of Australia (ISBN 978-1-925289-89-3, CC BY 3.0 AU)

“The Jehovah’s Witness organisation’s practice of shunning members who disassociate from the organisation has the very real potential of putting a survivor in the untenable position of having to choose between constant re-traumatisation at having to share a community with their abuser and losing that entire community altogether.”

Also: 'Even family members are instructed not to associate with a disfellowshipped or disassociated relative unless the association is unavoidable'; 'the practice of shunning is an inextricable component of the institutional response to child sexual abuse'; the organisation's submission that shunning was outside the terms of reference was rejected; Governing Body member Geoffrey Jackson's evidence (14 Aug 2015) that leaving can be 'personally devastating because [a person] can lose their whole social network and their families'; p. 13 lists 'the organisation has a policy and practice of shunning those who wish to leave the organisation' among problematic policies.

Official source Scan of original Link not auto-checkable

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Report PDF (110 pp.) downloaded from the New Zealand inquiry's mirror and text-extracted; wording and page numbers confirmed. Official host (childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au) blocked in this environment.

Scan provenance. Mirror hosted by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care (New Zealand); Commonwealth of Australia, CC BY 3.0 AU.

Notes. Official PDF (blocked here): https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Case%20Study%2029%20-%20Findings%20Report%20-%20Jehovahs%20Witnesses.pdf

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-rc-au-2016-1000-case-study-29-report

Claim page

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