Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (the Dallas Charter)

The response policy adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops at their June 2002 meeting in Dallas, in direct response to the scandal the Boston Globe's Spotlight investigation had made public that year. It commits every US diocese to a zero tolerance policy toward substantiated abuse by clergy, mandatory reporting to civil authorities, and codified procedures for review, healing and prevention, backed by the bishops' own Essential Norms. It has been revised periodically since 2002 and remains the standing US policy framework this atlas cites when a diocese or the national conference is recorded as having adopted it.