A question for Barbara (and thank you so much for what I believe is your highly principled stand) - is there anything else as big as the payouts of 2007 that WT had to make that is coming down the pipeline against the WT society? Please say yes; because bucks is the only thing that will make this organization change it's abuse policies.
Pedo child abusing scum:-
When Dateline/Panorama came out there was a lot of concern in part of the JW community - the part where abuse had happened (no surprise) and matters were dealt with unsatisfactorily. I would not trust a member of the gb or a branch committee or a travelling overseer to mix scripture, jw policies and legal and financial considerations into a child abuse policy any more than I would trust myself to outrun Usain Boult!
Not related to pedo's but the 2 witness rule -
When I was an elder, a judicial committee I was chairman of accepted two independent witnesses when two women claimed they had had sex (consensual) with a MS in separate incidents (i.e. - not a threesome!) and he denied doing anything more than kiss either woman. One had occured a couple of months before the JC and the other about two years previously and the earlier one was still disfellowshipped from admitting her guilt and walking away seeing the MS get off scot-free in her case (only one witness at that time). We took her earlier testimony as one witness because it had the ring of truth about it. We didn't automatically accept their word or his but also checked for collusion which we believed was absent.
The MS who "had connections" threatened to go to the CO because we were accepting the word of a D/F individual and we said that when she gave her testimony she was a JW and that we could consider the testimony of a non-believer anyway. If he did go to the CO and the CO backed us then we said that would show lack of repentance and "tie our hands" with our judgement. We asked him to go away and consider everything for 48 hours and come back and re-consider his plea. He phoned the next day and confessed and he got removed as an MS and a public reproof. The second sister got a private reproof.
One of those brothers on the committee is still a died in the wool elder but I know he went to the police in 2003 about a historical abuse case he was involved in (where he was part of a jc that disfellowshipped a 19 year old abuser). But he didn't inform the authorities at the time (1989) because it was against society policy. So that bears out, as if it were needed, any testimony from abused posters that the WT covered over routinely certainly pre late 1990's and tacitly encouraged covering up to a lessening degree right up until now IMO.
So sometimes it is a matter of judgement. And many elders would have and sadly still would IMO not have been so thorough and independent as I honestly believe we were.
Until the society instructs any elder who hears about abuse to inform the authorities then their hands will remain filthy.