Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Who should be mandated to report child abuse?

silive  If enacted, the bill would make every adult resident of South Carolina the equivalent of New York’s mandated reporters, minus, of course, their professional expertise. Granted, some instances of child abuse are so blatant that they’d be apparent to the most benighted layperson. Conceptually, however, child abuse and neglect are imprecise terms, their incidences often susceptible to lively debate among professionals in the field. 

To expect the average person to analyze every potential situation and make a reasonable judgment as to whether child abuse or neglect likely exists is unrealistic; to punish him for wrongly concluding that it doesn’t when, in fact, it actually does is unconscionable.

Making everybody a mandated reporter also invites abuse by those inclined to use the requirement as a pretext to maliciously defame others. 

False accusations of child abuse, particularly child sexual abuse, have already become the nuclear option for desperate combatants in custody and visitation cases. They and similarly unscrupulous types would be further emboldened under a broad reporting mandate.
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19 comments:

  1. Nachlaot Falsely AccusedJuly 17, 2012 at 8:50 PM

    False accusations of child abuse, particularly child sexual abuse, have already become the nuclear option for desperate combatants in custody and visitation cases. They and similarly unscrupulous types would be further emboldened under a broad reporting mandate.
    very true
    http://familyrightsassociation.com/bin/white_papers-articles/stuckle/false_sex.htm

    http://nachlaotchildabuse.blogspot.com/2012/07/some-useful-links-for-those-falsely.html

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    1. HelasJuly 19, 2012 at 5:37 PM

      Those cases are quite rare, and much rarer than the unreported cases of child abuse or the cases of child abuse where the perpetrator is not identified or where the proof is insufficient to condemn him...

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    2. betzalelJuly 19, 2012 at 7:01 PM

      Helas,

      How do you know this?

      As a general rule, for every person that is evil enough to commit heinous crime X, there is another person who is evil enough to accuse some innocent person of committing heinous crime X.

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    3. Nachlaot Falsely AccusedJuly 19, 2012 at 7:15 PM

      60% is rare?? http://michaelk.hubpages.com/hub/accused-of-child-abuse

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    4. HelasJuly 19, 2012 at 7:51 PM

      Well of course it can happen that someone is accused wrongly. But would this be a reason not to report? Would you stop reporting thefts just because sometimes an evil person wants to betray an insurance company and reports a theft that never took place?

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    5. Nachlaot Falsely AccusedJuly 19, 2012 at 10:37 PM

      Helas, "Those cases are quite rare, and much rarer than the unreported cases of child abuse or the cases of child abuse where the perpetrator is not identified or where the proof is insufficient to condemn him..."
      1. "If the perpetrator is not identified" then there is no one to accuse.
      2. "If the proof is insufficient to condemn him", sounds like he has already been accused and the evidence was not solid enough to put him in jail.
      3. "Unreported cases". If you know of child abuse and are not reporting it then maybe you should report it. If you don't know about it, then you shouldn't be reporting it.
      4. "Those cases are quite rare, and much rarer than..."
      As Bezalel asked, how do you know this? From what I have read and as in the link I posted, it seems that this is not true.
      So what exactly is your point. The article is not condoning not reporting sexual abuse.

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  2. LeonJuly 17, 2012 at 10:34 PM

    i am sure the proposed law is far from perfect... but to leave the things as they are and to leave the children without the protection they need seems to be problematic too...

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  3. betzalelJuly 17, 2012 at 11:20 PM

    That's very scary, the kind of stuff totalitarian governments like North Korea use:

    If you suspect someone as being a potential enemy of the state, you had better be safe than sorry and do your civic duty to report him or else you might get in trouble too. And of course, the poor guy who gets reported has no chance with the authorities, because they also could get in trouble if they don't send the poor guy to the gulag if he is found to truly be an enemy of the state.

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    1. Nachlaot Falsely AccusedJuly 18, 2012 at 12:16 AM

      it is called mass hysteria as in McCarthyism in the 1950's
      interesting subject. Has existed through the ages. and very scary as you say.
      http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00863/mass_hysteria.html

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  4. betzalelJuly 18, 2012 at 2:34 PM

    Nachlaot Child Abuse,

    I saw videos of the Nachlaot hysteria. I noticed that it seems to be coming from only women in the neighborhood, no men. This was very peculiar to me, given their allegations. Why?

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    1. Nachlaot Falsely AccusedJuly 19, 2012 at 1:49 AM

      good question. It seems that it most cases of mass hysteria it is mostly women. do a search on mass hysteria. Also take a look at these 2 sites. They are the closest I found to what occurred in Nachlaot.

      http://nachlaotchildabuse.blogspot.com/2012/07/similarities-to-satanic-ritual-abuse-in.html

      http://nachlaotchildabuse.blogspot.com/2012/07/httpslusterbubble.html

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    2. betzalelJuly 20, 2012 at 4:47 PM

      In my experience, I have found that women are much better at lying than men. I am much more skeptical of claims of women. Sorry for sounding politically incorrect.

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  5. LeonJuly 18, 2012 at 8:20 PM

    there are probably many innocent people serving time for the crimes they never committed. But that does not mean we should get rid of the criminal code. the system, albeit imperfect, serves a vital function of protecting the public... Why should the victims of the abuse be any different and not be entitled to protection.

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    1. betzalelJuly 18, 2012 at 10:20 PM

      Leon,

      Here is my sarcastic response:

      I don't know you, so from my perspective you might be a potential criminal. Hence, just to be safe, I think we should send you to jail. I realize that my way of thinking is not perfect, as you might be innocent, but still my way of thinking will protect people from you if you are indeed a criminal.

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    2. LeonJuly 19, 2012 at 4:15 PM

      In other words you want a person who has the information which if relayed to authorities would protect a child from abuse or punish the abuser stay silent... do you want the preventable abuse to go on? Lo'saamod on dam reecha does not ring the bell?

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    3. betzalelJuly 19, 2012 at 7:11 PM

      Leon,

      Of course I would want such a person to go to the authorities.

      But as a general rule, to make it a crime not to report a crime is a terrible idea. This would encourage everyone to report on everyone else just like in Stalinist Russia.

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    4. LeonJuly 19, 2012 at 9:15 PM

      Such a law is in place already in NY... For practical reasons, the only people who can have the relevant info and be in the position to report are already mandated to report it... So do you hear of any prevalent abuse involving this law?

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    5. betzalelJuly 19, 2012 at 10:19 PM

      Leon,

      I don't live in NY. But I know of cases of people reported by mandatory reporters to the Child Protective Services for no good reason other than to cover themselves. And the CPS made the lives of the families the were reported very stressful.

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  6. little sheepJuly 22, 2012 at 5:37 AM

    Betzalel, and Nachlaot:

    While I understand your concerns, the research actually does show that the majority of cases that are reported are later proven true.

    Additionally, your concerns about "unreported" abuse: "unreported" means not reported to the authorities. This can happen for a lot of reasons-like people not being sure and deciding to not report it. Or, some cases only get reported years after prosecution is possible (like because of the statute of limitations, or because people didn't know or other such reasons) and therefore are considered unreported. (When I went out of state for treatment, the hospital I was in was required to report the abuse I suffered as a child, because in their state there is no statute of limitations for sexual abuse, and they are mandated reporters. Since NY has a statute of limitations, they won't take the report, therefore my case is considered unreported)

    Last point: if you are in your own neighborhood, and see someone you don't know peeking into the windows of a house and trying doors, will you not call the police and report the potential crime, because MAYBE it's not a crime? Or will you call the police because there is suspicious activity? If you are standing on a street in Israel, and see someone behaving in a way that worries you, and think there might be terrorist activity about to happen, will you not report it because MAYBE it's ot a terrorist?

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