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Child safeguarding · Claim record

Geoffrey Jackson told the Royal Commission the two-witness rule has a scriptural basis ('Absolutely', citing Matthew 18:16), that it applies 'only' to 'setting up a judicial committee', that a policy requiring elders to report where others are at risk 'is a possible thing for us to consider', and that 'it would certainly be a lot easier if we had mandatory laws on that'.

Claim ID claim-safeguarding-jackson-two-witness-testimonyConcerns 14 August 2015Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 14 August 2015 Supported

Geoffrey Jackson told the Royal Commission the two-witness rule has a scriptural basis ('Absolutely', citing Matthew 18:16), that it applies 'only' to 'setting up a judicial committee', that a policy requiring elders to report where others are at risk 'is a possible thing for us to consider', and that 'it would certainly be a lot easier if we had mandatory laws on that'. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Case Study 29, transcript Day 155, 14 August 2015Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, October 2016

The organisation’s position or later explanation: Asked whether the Governing Body could recognise that the rule need not apply to sexual abuse, he said 'We believe it does because of the number of times that that principle is emphasised in the scriptures' (p. 15972:9-10), while acknowledging 'circumstances can also be one of the witnesses' (p. 15972:1-3).

Show the evidence (2 sources)
Official public record Supported

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Case Study 29, transcript Day 155, “Evidence of Geoffrey William Jackson (member of the Governing Body), 14 August 2015”

14 August 2015 · pp.15929-16000 · p. 15937 lines 35-47; p. 15966 lines 6-17; p. 15967 lines 19-47 to p. 15968 line 13; p. 15971 line 43 to p. 15972 line 10; p. 15988 lines 24-33 · Transcript produced by DTI · Commonwealth of Australia

“Q. And do you see yourselves as Jehovah God's spokespeople on earth? A. That I think would seem to be quite presumptuous to say that we are the only spokesperson that God is using.”

P. 15937:35-38. On the two-witness rule, p. 15967:33-47: 'Q. Is there a scriptural basis to that? A. ... Absolutely', citing Matthew 18:16; p. 15968:9-13: 'this is only talking about setting up a judicial committee. It doesn't mean to say that Jehovah's Witnesses would feel that someone is totally, a hundred per cent squeaky clean, just because there was only one witness to the crime.' P. 15971:43 to 15972:10: asked whether the scriptural basis is 'so solid or is there not space for your Governing Body to recognise that in cases of sexual abuse it need not apply', he answered 'We believe it does because of the number of times that that principle is emphasised in the scriptures.' On reporting, p. 15966:6-17: a policy requiring a report where others are at risk 'is a possible thing for us to consider'; p. 15967:19-22: 'it would certainly be a lot easier if we had mandatory laws on that'. P. 15988:29-33 (to the Chair): 'I would hope that the conscience of the elders would notify the police if the parent is not willing to do that.'

Official source Scan of original Link not auto-checkable

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. The official transcript URL could not be opened (host unreachable). A full copy was opened and the 'presumptuous' exchange matches the Commission's own quotation in the Case Study 29 report (p. 14, endnote 23); the two-witness passage matches the organisation's submissions' citation. Upgrade to 'verified' once the official PDF is opened.

Scan provenance. Copy of the DTI transcript (72 pp., pagination 15929 ff.) hosted by jw-verite.org, a discovery-tier site; used only because the official host was unreachable. Wording checked against the Case Study 29 report (p. 14) and the organisation's own submissions, which cite T15967:33-T15968:7.

Corroborated by. src-arc-2016-1000-cs29-report, src-wt-subs-2015-1109-royal-commission

Notes. There is no 'Day 156' for Case Study 29; Jackson's evidence was Day 155 only. His written statement (STAT.0670.001.0001) could not be opened.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-arc-2015-0814-day155-transcript

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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