NCJ Number
119614
Date Published
1989
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The publicity about the McMartin case, which involved reports of sexual abuse of young children attending day-care programs, yielded an unexpected insurance crisis in the child care industry.
Abstract
As a result of this publicity, insurance companies decided that child care was a high-risk enterprise. Consequently, child care providers suddenly found that their liability insurance was canceled, they could not renew their policy when it expired, or renewal was possible only at vastly more expensive rates. Yet subsequent investigations and Congressional hearings did not turn up any evidence that would justify such a monumental reaction from insurers. The insurance industry's sudden decision to classify child care as high risk appeared to be an irrational response to fear of a particular type of crime. The result was to make child care both harder to obtain and more expensive for users. Bibliography