Legislative Reports

From Washington VOTF
Reported by Lisa-Ann Oliver

There are currently 3 bills dealing with sex abuse before the Washington state legislature. One adds clergy to the list of those who MUST report suspected child abuse. (Currently in Washington, clergy are not required to report suspected child abuse.) It does make an explicit exemption for the clergy-penitent confidentiality and it raises the statute of limitations for failing to report abuse to 10 years (instead of the current 2 years - so that if you fail to report, criminal charges can be brought against you for up to 10 years after you failed to report). At our last general Puget Sound VOTF (PSVOTF) meeting, we unanimously voted to support this measure. We believe it is IMPERATIVE that the sacrament of confession remain confidential and refuse to put our clergy in the position of having to choose between obeying the Church or obeying state law. At the same time, members of the clergy have extensive contact with children and others in their parishes, and (like teachers, health care professionals, social workers etc), we believe they must be required to report suspected abuse to the civil authorities.

We are a sacramental church, and if you start picking the sacraments apart, pulling out an exception here, and exception there, it's no longer a sacrament, nor is it even a church (my opinion - though the great majority of the PSVOTF group agrees).

The other two bills deal with removing the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases (one deals with civil cases and the other with criminal cases). This means that regardless of when the abuse occurred, a victim can file a lawsuit (in civil court) or the prosecuting attorney can press charges (in criminal court). We as a group didn't come to any clear consensus on either bill. On the criminal bill, we were in favor, though there were several abstentions. On the civil bill, we weren't even close to reaching a decision.

From Northwest Nassau, NY Parish Voice Affiliate
Reported by Joe Bongiorno

This past November I discovered that New York State had a clergy exemption from the requirement of mandatory reporting of cases of sexual abuse. At that time it was also clear that the US Bishops' "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," recently approved by the Vatican, only required compliance with local laws as far as reporting allegations of sexual abuse is concerned. So I suggested to VOTF-Long Island in January that it think about trying to influence our state legislators to remove the clergy exemption from New York State law. I was happy to hear announced at the February regional meeting of VOTF-Long Island that a Legislation Committee has been formed to explore legislative initiatives.

I found out that bills to remove the clergy exemption in the future and retroactively over the past 20 years were introduced in both the New York State Assembly and Senate last year. However, the bills did not pass last summer. Many legislators incorrectly anticipated that action by the Catholic Church would resolve the matter. Also, there were concerns that the bills as written would also mandate school guidance counselors and women's health clinic workers to report sexual relationships between teens. The sponsors will introduce revised bills this year that take these concerns into account and the bills are expected to pass. The sponsors are Senator Stephen M. Saland from Poughkeepsie and Assemblyman John J. McEneny from Albany. I have written to both men to encourage them and to indicate that I would try to get VOTF-Long Island to endorse the legislation. Assemblyman McEneny has sent me a copy of his revised bill (A1516) and indicated he "would be very happy to have the backing of the Voice of the Faithful in this endeavor." A summary of the bill and the complete text can be found at www.assembly.state.ny.us.

With regard to penitential confidence, the proposed New York State bills contain an exception for allegations learned through confidential communications to clergy that are privileged. Specifically, unless the person confessing or confiding waives the privilege, a member of the clergy is not required to make a report if the confession or confidence was made to him in his or her professional character as a spiritual advisor. This exception, however, does not prevent reporting of information obtained by clergy in a non-confidential communication and does not exempt a member of the clergy from any legal requirements to prevent further abuse. While the danger exists that some might use this as a ploy for covering up any incidence of sexual abuse, I think it would be politically unwise not to have this exception. Moreover, the bills as proposed would effectively nullify the changes made by the Vatican to the original US Bishops' "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People." I believe it is more important to accomplish this goal rather than risk defeat of the bill over the complex issue of the sanctity of the confessional.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island encompasses the counties of Nassau and Suffolk. The District Attorneys of both counties, Dennis Dillon in Nassau and Thomas Spota in Suffolk, support changing state law to make it mandatory that anyone who works with children should report suspected child abuse to law enforcement. I also gather from news reports that our Bishop William Murphy is not opposed to such a law since he has adopted a mandatory reporting policy for the diocese. A 180-page Suffolk County [see web address in Events of Note] grand jury report on the sexual abuse issue also recommends changes in state law including eliminating any statute of limitations in cases involving sex crimes against children. The statute of limitations is now five years, generally, in New York. I am not aware of any pending legislation in this regard and would recommend that VOTF establish a position on this matter after researching the issues involved.

Surely five years is too short a time, but I would like to hear the opinion of legal experts and mental health care professionals eliminating all statutes of limitation in cases involving sex crimes against children. In a recent Newsday article, it was stated that the grand jury's recommendation about extending the statute of limitations in civil and criminal cases would be a much more difficult fight. The Newsday article stated that "Robert Perry, legislative counsel to the New York Civil Liberties Union, said his group would oppose removing or extending the deadlines" and "faulty memories and lack of evidence are reasons those statutes of limitations exist in the first place."