BishopAccountability.org has identified specific, mostly large settlements and awards totaling $2.49 billion, paid out by dioceses and religious orders and by their insurers to survivors of sexual abuse by clergy in the United States. These settlements are listed in the table below with links to sources. Note:

• The table includes few of the many smaller settlements under $1 million (less than 1% of the table)

• The table includes few pre-2002 settlements (less than 5% of the table)

Is it possible to estimate the total value of those other settlements?

As part of the John Jay College project, many bishops issued their own reports on abuse 1950-2002, including the settlement costs in those years. We have totaled the settlements in those local John Jay reports. The bishops count almost $750 million in settlements before 2002.

If we add the total of our big table and the bishops' pre-2002 number:

               $2,486,897,033
                +  749,600,189
               $3,236,497,222

we get over $3 billion. This very large number still leaves out the many small settlements done since 2002 but not yet included in our table, as well as any pre-2002 settlements that the bishops didn't include in their John Jay numbers.

Hence the total value of sexual abuse settlements in the United States is well over $3 billion. This $3 billion number far exceeds the dire prediction of Doyle, Peterson, and Mouton in 1985. And $3 billion is certainly an underestimate. Our table shows payouts to 5,048 survivors, only 33% of the 15,235 survivors who the bishops say have come forward.