Tom Corbett Signs Child-Abuse Laws Inspired by Jerry Sandusky, Priest Cases

The Associated Press
December 18, 2013

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/12/tom_corbett_jerry_sandusky.html

Gov. Tom Corbett has signed new child-protection bills into law.

Pennsylvania has its first new laws in the state Legislature's wide-ranging response to the Jerry Sandusky and Roman Catholic clergy scandals.

Gov. Tom Corbett made the bills official during a Wednesday signing ceremony at the Pennsylvania Child Resource Center outside Harrisburg.

Lawmakers have approved a half-dozen bills that update nearly 20-year-old state laws on how cases of suspected child abuse are defined, investigated and punished.

About 20 bills are part of the legislative package.

One of the new laws expands the definition of who investigators can consider a potential perpetrator of child abuse. Another addresses a longstanding complaint of child welfare advocates by lowering the threshold for the kind of injury or pain that is considered child abuse.