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Child safeguarding · Claim record

The 2010 elders' handbook told elders to call the branch office immediately on learning of an accusation, never to suggest that anyone should not report to the police, and to say that whether to report 'is a personal decision for each individual to make' and 'his or her absolute right'.

Claim ID claim-safeguarding-2010-handbook-absolute-rightConcerns 2010Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 2010 Verified

The 2010 elders' handbook told elders to call the branch office immediately on learning of an accusation, never to suggest that anyone should not report to the police, and to say that whether to report 'is a personal decision for each individual to make' and 'his or her absolute right'. "Shepherd the Flock of God" (ks10-E), elders' handbook, 2010 edition, 2010Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, October 2016

The organisation’s position or later explanation: The organisation relied on this as showing it never discouraged reporting; the Commission called it 'a passive policy' and said the 'absolute right' justification 'does nothing to protect' a complainant who is still a child (report pp. 61-62).

Show the evidence (2 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

"Shepherd the Flock of God" (ks10-E), elders' handbook, 2010 edition, “Chapter 12 (Handling Certain Judicial Matters), 'Child Abuse', pars. 18-21”

2010 · pp.131-132 · pars. 18-19 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

“Child abuse is a crime. Never suggest to anyone that they should not report an allegation of child abuse to the police or other authorities. If you are asked, make it clear that whether to report the matter to the authorities or not is a personal decision for each individual to make and that there are no congregation sanctions for either decision.”

Par. 19, pp. 131-132. Par. 18: 'You should immediately call the branch office for direction if you learn of an accusation of child abuse, regardless of the age of the victim now or at the time of the alleged abuse'. A margin note refers elders to the 1 October 2012 letter. This is the edition the Australian Royal Commission examined in 2015.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Downloaded the NZ-hosted scan (143 pages) and text-extracted chapter 12; quotation verbatim.

Scan provenance. New Zealand Abuse in Care Royal Commission evidence library. The scan carries Australian Royal Commission document IDs (WAT.0003.001.0001 ff.; Exhibit 29-0003 per Case Study 29 report endnote 106) and NZ IDs (MSC0500457).

Corroborated by. src-arc-2016-1000-cs29-report

Notes. Not published on wol.jw.org (elders-only publication). Quoted from the copy tendered in evidence to the Australian Royal Commission; no other copy is cited.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-ks-2010-0000-shepherd-flock-ch12

Official public record Verified

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, “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 · pp.1-110 (ISBN 978-1-925289-89-3) · pp. 10-12, 14, 24-25, 58-70, 75-78 · The Hon. Justice Peter McClellan AM (Chair); Professor Helen Milroy (Commissioner) · Commonwealth of Australia

“Although the position is not clear in relation to a few files, there is otherwise no evidence before the Royal Commission of the Jehovah's Witness organisation having reported to police or other secular authority a single one of the 1,006 alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse recorded in the case files held by Watchtower Australia.”

P. 60. Other key passages: p. 58 (files since 1950 record allegations against 1,006 members; 579 admissions; at least 1,800 alleged victims); p. 59 ('The numbers tell their own story'); p. 61 ('We are satisfied that it is the general practice of the Jehovah's Witness organisation in Australia not to report allegations of child sexual abuse to the police or other authorities unless required to do so by law'); p. 65 (two-witness rule: 'retention of and continued application of the rule to a complaint of child sexual abuse is wrong'); p. 67 (men-only decision-making is 'a fundamental flaw'); p. 69 ('places children within the organisation at significant risk'); p. 70 (BCG 'completely shunned, ostracised and actively avoided'); p. 77 ('We do not consider the Jehovah's Witness organisation to be an organisation which responds adequately to child sexual abuse').

Official source Scan of original Link not auto-checkable

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. The official Royal Commission host could not be reached from this environment (TLS renegotiation failure / timeouts), so the NZ-hosted copy of the same Commonwealth publication was downloaded and text-extracted; all quotations verbatim with printed page numbers. Tabled in Parliament 28 November 2016.

Scan provenance. Copy of the Commonwealth publication (CC BY 3.0 AU) held in the New Zealand Abuse in Care Royal Commission evidence library; identical ISBN and pagination to the official release.

Corroborated by. src-wt-subs-2015-1109-royal-commission, src-arc-2015-0814-day155-transcript

Notes. Public hearing 27 July-5 August and 14 August 2015, Sydney. Survivors identified only as BCG and BCB. Also on parlinfo.aph.gov.au as a tabled paper.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-arc-2016-1000-cs29-report

Claim page

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