Advisen

Child sex abuse most expensive loss in schools, religious institutions: Data Spotlight

The New York Child Victim’s Act and similar laws which extend the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse have led to a number of high-profile cases. According to Advisen’s loss database, child sexual abuse cases are the most expensive types of loss faced by schools, religious organizations, and nonprofits.

The number of victims that have come forward and the severity of childhood sexual abuse claims has forced some organizations to file for bankruptcy. Examples in Front Page News include:

Boy Scouts Seek Chapter 11 Protection Against Lawsuits

Suburban NY diocese files for bankruptcy amid abuse lawsuits

Buffalo Diocese legal bill in abuse scandal: $2 million and counting

Looking at the five costliest types of loss faced by schools, religious organizations, and nonprofits, Child/Sexual Abuse was the most expensive – accounting for $4 billion in total losses – and the second-most frequent, behind Premises losses, according to Advisen data.

Premises losses refer to injuries which took place on the business property such as slips, trips, falls and drownings.

Cost, Frequency of Losses in Schools, Religious Organizations and Non-Profits

Looking at child sexual abuse losses by industry, Elementary & Secondary Schools accounted for 39% of losses. Religious Organizations had the second-highest proportion of child sexual abuse losses at 31%, according to Advisen data.

Child sexual abuse losses in Elementary & Secondary Schools and Religious Organizations accounted for most losses by cost as well – $3.5 billion out of the total $4 billion.

Child Sexual Abuse Losses by Industry, Frequency

Advisen also tracks the number of children affected by these losses. Over the past 20 years the median number of victims has remained relatively stable – less than 20 victims each year – except in 2016 and 2019 when the median number of child victims spiked to 80 and 66, respectively, according to Advisen loss data. Child sexual abuse losses recorded in the database from Elementary & Secondary Schools and Religious Organizations have affected a total more than 4,500 children.

Looking at child sexual abuse cases by disposition date, the severity of these losses has increased slightly from 2000 to 2020, with most cases costing between $100,000 and $10 million, according to Advisen loss data.

Child Sexual Abuse Cases, Disposition Date

Data Journalist Rebecca Gainsburg can be reached at rgainsburg@advisen.com.

To learn more about Advisen’s data call (212) 897-4800 or email support@advisen.com.

*Advisen’s loss data is curated from a wide variety of public sources. Our collection efforts focus on larger and more significant cases. For this reason, the figures in this article may not be fully representative of all cases of this type.