Anglican Clergy as Victims of Routinized Violent Attacks in Urban and Rural Localities

David Denney1
1Royal Holloway , University Of London, London, United Kingdom

Few studies of everyday violence have considered the nature of violence and its implications for the Anglican clergy. A conventional victimological approach would go no further than to identify the social correlates of victims and perpetrators. Whilst this enables us to establish patterns of violence we need to draw on lifestyle and routine activity to understand this form of violence. In addition, a more critical victimology suggest that we consider the role of socio cultural and macro organisational factors. This paper will describe these approaches in an account of two studies of violence against this occupational group. One study was conducted in 2002 and supported by the ESRC Violence Research Project.  The follow up second study is currently underway and is supported by the UK Home Office and ‘Church Watch’. During the intervening period there have been critical social changes which touch upon the task of being a priest.  Secularisation, the role of women in the Church of England and the advent of social media are changes that will be considered in relation to the perpetration of abuse. This longitudinal element gives a wider view of the changing nature of this form of violence.   The presentation will provide evidence of the degree and type of violence experienced by Anglican clergy in urban and rural locations and their response to abuse. The paper will also describe how the clergy makes sense of everyday violence in these locations and describes how this relates to the public and private worlds that they inhabit.


Biography:
David Denney is currently Professor of Social and Public Policy and Director of Research in the  School of Law at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has researched and written extensively on aspects of criminal Justice  with reference to vioelnce  rights, risk, mental illness and discriminatory practices. David has also written widely on risk theory from a sociological perspective including articles and a single authored book . He  has chaired the editorial board of the journal ‘Social Policy and Administration’ and still serves as a member of the board. He has also been an assessor for the ESRC. Over the last five years he has  been engaged in a number of international funded projects which seek to understand cyber security, digital identifies and human behavior in a number of governmental and none governmental organizations. He has recently worked with the Cabinet Office on the development of national cyber security policy. He is currently working with Professor Jonathan Gabe on a study of violence perpetrated against the Anglican Clergy