Redress Structure and Process

Abstract

Once a government or church authority begins to respond to institutional abuse, what happens next? Published sources do not provide ready answers. In my sample of 19 cases, just two (Jericho Hill and Tasmanian Stolen Generations) produced a publicly available report of both processes and outcomes of redress schemes. For all the others, I had to seek information from government departments or others close to the case to determine what the outcomes were. This chapter presents new information on what happened after inquiries were concluded, agreements and redress schemes were decided, and major civil litigation cases were settled. My focus is on the structure and process of redress schemes, but I give attention to other justice mechanisms.