Institutional Abuse

Institutional abuse, including historic institutional child sex abuse, is a difficult area of law to navigate and victims of abuse benefit from having an experienced lawyer to help them through the legal process.

In November 2012, the Gillard Government announced the Royal Commission into institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The recommendations of the Royal Commission and the outcome of those recommendations have been significant in terms of the legal rights of victims of abuse.

The Royal Commission was required to inquire into:

  • what institutions and governments should do to better protect children against sexual abuse and related matters in institutional contexts in the future;
  • what institutions and governments should do to achieve best practice in encouraging the reporting of, and responding to reports or information about, allegations, incidents or risks of child sexual abuse and related matters in institutional contexts;
  • what should be done to eliminate or reduce impediments that currently exist for responding appropriately to child sexual abuse and related matters in institutional contexts, including addressing failures in, and impediments to, reporting[1].

The Royal Commission released the Criminal justice report in August 2017 which discussed:

What institutions and governments should do to address, or alleviate the impact of, past and future child sexual abuse and related matters in institutional contexts, including, in particular, in ensuring justice for victims through the provision of redress by institutions, processes for referral for investigation and prosecution and support services[2].

The most significant change to the law following the Royal Commission was the removal of any limitation period in terms of the time frame for victims of child abuse to bring a claim. Victims can bring a claim for compensation arising out of such abuse at any time. Lough and Wells have assisted many victims of abuse to bring claims of this kind and we have extensive experience in this area of law.

We invite you to contact us on 4228 0911 for a free consultation.

[1] http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au
[2] As above.

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