The Cases

Abstract

Each case is a bundle of thousands of people (and at times, hundreds of thousands): as victim/survivors, their family members (past and present), and friends; as alleged individual offenders (who are recalled, reported, prosecuted, convicted, or acquitted), their family members past (and present), and friends; or organizational offenders (government, church, and other organizations)¹; and as front-line observers and responders (citizens with information, staff working at the institutions, police officers, journalists, prosecutors, judges, social workers, counsellors, government staff, church staff, and many more). A wider circle has watched television series or documentaries, visited museums, and participated in oral history projects or in political demonstrations for change. Each case also has a long history, whether of the establishment of a policy or institution; and each has a local meaning and significance, which outsiders may not fully appreciate. Each incorporates many organizations and political-economic interests, which have intersected with the lives of children and their families. Of this vast pool of information, I sketch the historical elements of each case and those aspects most germane to understanding redress.