New York Bill Would Require College Employees to Report Child Sex Abuse

November 14, 2011, 10:39 am

In what may be the first of many legislative responses to the sex-abuse scandal at Penn State, two New York State lawmakers have proposed a bill that would make it a criminal act for college coaches, athletic directors, administrators, and professors to fail to report child sex abuse to the police. The bill, proposed by two assemblymen, James Tedisco and George Amedore, would add college employees to a list of mandated child-sex-abuse reporters, a list that includes high-school teachers, physicians, and coaches. If an employee is convicted of failing to report child sex abuse, he or she could face a misdemeanor charge and a year in jail. In Philadelphia, several lawmakers are calling for similar legislation days after Penn State’s president, Graham B. Spanier, and its head football coach, Joe Paterno, were fired for failing to tell law-enforcement officials about a credible report of child sex abuse on the campus.

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Guest

Here we go killing the flea with an elephant gun again. Why respond to this tragedy with legislation? When you write laws in response to a sensational cause celebre, it never ends well.
jimislew

Let’s go nuclear. Make it mandatory for every adult to report sex abuse or face charges. I think most of us agree that it is the ethical and right thing to do so why not legislate it? You would report abuse, right? Let’s just make it law… and down the slope we go… slip sliding away.

There has to be a better way than this. (Question: Are New York law makers required to report sex abuse?)
jimislew

Just a follow up. I’m serious about the nuclear option. Why have a list of mandated people? Just say “everyone” and be done with it.
mister_anthony

That is really despicable, but how about the widespread attempts to change a student’s sexual orientation, from straight to Gay? That seems as despicable. It happened to me and I have it all online at -> http://members.cruzio.com/%7Eawwalton/disability/access1.html
elgato1204

I feel this news item (along with many others) is extremely unfair to Graham Spanier. So far, at least, no evidence has surfaced that he received “a credible report of child sex abuse on the campus.” Two administrators (Schultz and Curley) told him in 2002 that there had been “an incident” involving Sandusky, and it appears they otherwise completely sanitized their report. Spanier was not fired for failing to report the case, he was fired for his statement of “unconditional support” of Schultz and Curley. While clearly a mistake, this is not even remotely as serious as failing to report sexual abuse of a child. (I acknowledge that perhaps more serious allegations against Spanier may yet surface, but so far that hasn’t happened.)
lcrandal

Can we make it illegal to show a complete lack of common sense? And can we apply this new law first to legislators?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WQT3GVDS4ETEADYVZTQ7RVXDHM jimb

About time!! It should just be human decency to report that kind of stuff! come on!! Joe pa got what he deserved! way to report child abuse to the proper authorities! http://www.scholarshipsforwomenguide.org/
11152886

Yes, may we have charges brought against Sandusky before saying all these folks are guilty of whatever it may be they are guilty of. Reporting things is a cinch, do we have proof? Talking about something and documenting it is totally distinct. This rush to judgement without the facts about who said what with regard to all those surrounding Sandusky is irrational and absolutely unfair. Once charges of any sort are made about someone of these folks, whether true or untrue, they do not go away ever. If they are not true, then what?
fgrhodes

I am curious, in a University setting, what is the definition of “child”? Some college/university freshmen are extremely young — especially with the dual-enrollments where high school students attend university (or college) classes.
dobbsoates

That is the law in Indiana, and in some other states as well. Every adult is a mandated reporter — meaning all adults, regardless of occupation, have a legal responsibility to report suspected child abuse.