Coughlin asserted that prescription rendered canon law ineffective for the prosecution of accused clerics because «
victims of child abuse sometimes do not bring accusations to the attention of church authorities until many decades after the abuse has occurred.»
Participants were divided into four categories —
children who were not at all involved in bullying;
victims of bullying;
children who
sometimes were
victims and
sometimes were instigators; and
children who were solely bullies, repeatedly
abusing other
children verbally and physically, socially excluding others, and rumor mongering, without ever becoming a
victim themselves.