Not the Last Word on Sexual Abuse

Albany Times Union
March 6, 2012

http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/not-the-last-word-on-sexual-abuse/18373/

Our opinion: An agreement between the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese and local district attorneys on sexual abuse reporting is fine, but the real solution is a state law to make clergy mandated reporters.

An agreement between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and 14 district attorneys is certainly a step forward in how the church deals with allegations of sexual abuse. As state law now stands, it may be about the best we can hope for.

What's really needed, though, is a law that would designate clergy as mandated reporters — requiring them to report instances of suspected abuse or maltreatment of children.

Year after year, however, the Legislature, specifically the Senate, has failed to support the idea.

So we're left with ad hoc solutions like the latest one worked out between DAs and the diocese.

Under the diocese's previous policy, church officials would screen people who came forward with allegations of sexual abuse. Complainants had to fill out detailed forms about the abuse and sign waivers giving the church access to their medical records. The diocese would then notify law enforcement officials.

Whatever the intent was, this had all the air of a process designed to let the church determine what its legal exposure might be. Given the church's unfortunate history of handling sexual abuse allegations, and given the conflict the church could face in the form of litigation from the very people bringing these complaints, this kind of detailed screening seems inappropriate.

The new agreement calls for the church to promptly report allegations of sexual and physical abuse, with no screening or investigation by the diocese.

The diocese would also provide the identity of the alleged victim and accuser, something it doesn't necessarily do now.

That's good, as far as it goes.

We've yet to see how public this policy will be. What's the point of a better policy if victims don't know how their complaints are supposed to be handled?

How much more deterrent power might such a policy have if would-be abusers knew the church wasn't going to screen complaints, but would now hand them over to law enforcement authorities?

In essence, the new agreement turns the church into something of a mandated reporter, at least in the Albany diocese. But it would be far better to have a state law adding clergy — and while we're at it, coaches — to the list of occupations that must report reasonable suspicions of abuse.

Such bills have been proposed for years in one form or another, and the state Assembly has passed legislation at least four times. But the Senate — happy to pass all kinds of other sexual abuse legislation that often only makes penalties more severe for crimes already on the books — won't pass this.

As we've seen in the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church and several colleges including Penn State and Syracuse, it's not enough to leave these matters up to personal or even institutional judgment calls.

The Senate should do better this year than pass feel-good legislation. It should work with the Assembly to pass a bill that would do some real good.