The number of sexual abuse cases in our courts and news media raises a nagging question: is such disturbing conduct on the increase, or is it merely that the greater openness of present-day society makes this appear to be so?
An article in the current edition of the quarterly review Studies, dealing with official attitudes to child abuse and sexual misdemeanours in the early years of the State, casts new light on this issue. Its author, Finola Kennedy, recounts the story of the Carrigan report, which was circulated to members of the Cabinet on December 2nd, 1931. An accompanying memo warned that it might not be wise to give currency to the damaging allegations which the report made on the report on the standard of morality in the country. Full story
Ms Kennedy says the full story of the Committee on the Criminal Law Amendment Acts and Juvenile Prostitution, and the suppression of its report, has never been told: "It is, I believe, of some importance at the present time when the spotlight has been turned on cases of sexual abuse of young people, and when a high premium is being placed on openness in every aspect of public life."
The committee was appointed by W.T. Cosgrave's Cumann na nGaedhal government on June 17th, 1930 to consider whether the Criminal Law Amendment Acts of 1880 and 1885 needed modification - and whether new legislation was required to deal with juvenile prostitution. It was broadly representative and saw itself as emphasising "the secular aspect of social morality".
Its members comprised: Mr William Carrigan, KC (chairman); Rev John Hannon SJ; Very Rev H.B. Kennedy (Dean of Christchurch); Surgeon Francis Morrin; Mrs Jane Power (a commissioner of the Dublin Union); and Miss V. O'Carroll (matron of the Coombe Hospital).
Carrigan had acted as prosecuting counsel in an infamous 1926 case in which a medical doctor and a former Garda superintendent were charged with the murder of Lily O'Neill, a prostitute, known as "Honour Bright". Carrigan described the murder as "a sordid tale of debauchery by a pair of moral degenerates". Both men were acquitted, however, after their defence counsel, Joe O'Connor, appealed to the jury, thus: "Is it because they go on a spree, and fall victim to the two things that men have fallen victims to from the beginning of time - wine and women - that you are not to judge them by ordinary standards, but to treat them as human vampires?"
Findings
The Carrigan committee delivered its findings on August 20th, 1931 and concluded that:
there was an alarming amount of sexual crime, increasing yearly, a feature of which was the large number of cases of criminal interference with girls and children from 16 years downwards, including many cases of children under 10 years;
the police estimated that not 15 per cent of such cases were prosecuted because of: (1) the anxiety of parents to keep them secret in the interests of their children, the victims of such outrages, which overcame the desire to punish the offenders; and (2) the reluctance of parents to subject their children to the ordeal of appearing before a public court to be examined and cross-examined.
Technical difficulties encountered by prosecuting lawyers included the fact that it was difficult to prove an offence had been committed because of the private nature of the act. They were reliant on the "uncorroborated" evidence of a single witness, the child.
The report, in essence, pointed to the ways in which the prevailing judicial processes operated to the detriment of children, says Ms Kennedy, "leading to their sometimes being treated as accomplices in a crime rather than victims of an outrage". This put a strain on the child, under which he or she frequently broke down and the prosecution failed or had to be abandoned.
Among its 21 recommendations, the report called for the age of consent to be raised from 16 to 18 years and said the offence of solicitation should be applicable to men as well as women. The Department of Justice strongly advised against the report's publication.
In February 1932 the first Fianna Fail government, led by Eamon de Valera, took office and James Geoghegan was appointed Minister for Justice. On October 27th the Cabinet received a memo from Geoghegan severely critical of the Carrigan report and insisting that it should not be published as it was too one-sided.
There was a clear difference of opinion between Carrigan and the Minister, says Ms Kennedy. Carrigan painted a bleak picture of the standard of "social conduct" in the country which the Minister and the Department thought was exaggerated: "Carrigan favoured a considerable tightening of the law to protect women and children, while the view of the Department was that it was unbalanced to be too severe on men, while overlooking the shortcomings of women in these matters, and the, at times, highly coloured imaginations of children."
Age of consent
Under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1935 the age of consent was raised to 17, not 18. Unlawful knowledge of a girl between 15 and 17 years was defined as a "misdemeanour", not a felony (as applied in cases where the girl was under 15). In addition, Carrigan had suggested that contraceptives should be dealt with under an enactment similar to the Dangerous Drugs Act 1920. The memo from the Department declared that this was outside the committee's terms of reference.
"Tantalising questions present themselves," Ms Kennedy argues, "about the way in which the Carrigan report was dealt with by de Valera, his ministers and by key civil servants, both regarding the decision not to publish, and the decision not to follow its recommendations." To pose just one question, she says: if Carrigan had been debated in public, would public awareness of the prevalence of child sexual abuse have ensured that the relevant authorities took the appropriate action?
If, as Bentham had it, "publicity is the soul of justice," she concludes, "perhaps the answer is in the affirmative."