Pennsylvania Task Force Promotes Advocacy Centers

A task force formed in response to the Penn State child sex abuse scandal recommend that all children in Pennsylvania have better access to centers that specialize in investigating child abuse, reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Task Force on Child Protection recommended that a children's advocacy center be located within a two-hour drive of every child in the state, David Heckler, the Bucks County district attorney and chairman of the task force, told the Post-Gazette.

"If there had been a children's advocacy center in Centre County in 1998 to 2000," Mr. Heckler said, "I'm telling you they would have heard about Jerry Sandusky then, and a decade of suffering by his victims would have been prevented."

There are currently 21 Children's Advocacy Centers in the state. However, they receive no state money. The nearest advocacy center to State College is in Harrisburg, a little more than an hour's drive.

The task force recommended sweeping changes, including new crimes, revised criminal codes and new policies, reported the Post-Gazette.

Pennsylvania law requires multidisciplinary teams, but teams in some counties do not meet regularly or have not developed protocols. Mr. Heckler said the task force recommends "putting teeth into the law."

While multidisciplinary teams are the foundation of effective child-abuse investigations, children's advocacy centers are an extra layer of protection.

They are places, often hospitals, designed to help children feel safe. They employ doctors, nurses and mental health practitioners who examine and treat children. The child is interviewed once, by a forensic examiner skilled at eliciting crucial information.

"Children's advocacy centers ensure justice," Mr. Heckler told the Post-Gazette.

About half of the state's 67 counties either do not have an advocacy center or have no arrangements with one in a nearby county. More are needed, said Abbie Newman, president of the state association of Children's Advocacy Centers and Multidisciplinary Teams.

"Children need to be brought to a place where they can be comfortable, as opposed to a police station," she said.

To read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/child-protection-group-calls-for-more-advocacy-centers-663446/#ixzz2DUDOMDa0

Penn State sex scandal far from over

According to the Harrisburg Patriot-News the Penn State sex abuse scandal is far from over with the sentencing of Jerry Sandusky to 30-60 years in state prison.   Still to come:   •In January, Athletic Director-on-leave Tim Curley and retired Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Gary Schultz are scheduled to stand trial in Dauphin County court on charges that they lied to the statewide grand jury investigating Sandusky. 

•Mike McQueary, the former assistant football coach who has testified that he saw Sandusky in a shower sexually assaulting a boy in 2001, is suing Penn State for $4 million, saying he was essentially fired for truthfully testifying about how he told his superiors about the incident. He claims that instead of protecting him as a whistleblower, the university used him as a scapegoat. 

•Victim 1, who was a Clinton County high school student when Sandusky abused him, also has sued Penn State. He has a book scheduled for release this month. Other victims are expected to sue the university. Penn State has said it wants to settle with the victims. 

•State House Democrats are trying to force a vote on a resolution to urge the U.S. attorney general’s office to investigate the handling of the Sandusky investigation. 

•If elected, Democratic state attorney general candidate Kathleen Kane is promising a review of the Sandusky investigation to determine whether politics played a role in why it went on for three years before charges were filed in 2011. Some have questioned whether Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, managed the investigation while serving as attorney general in such a way as to not interfere with his gubernatorial campaign in 2010.

The fallout from the Penn State sex abuse scandal will take years to sort out.

According to the Patriot-News, Curley and Schultz are scheduled to stand trial on single counts of perjury and failure to report child abuse.

If convicted, they could face prison sentences. Attorneys for Curley and Schultz declined comment for this story, but other sources familiar with some aspects of that case said they were not aware of any serious plea negotiations to date.

Meanwhile, state and federal investigators are continuing to explore other aspects of the Sandusky scandal, including whether other top university leaders might have lied during the state investigation or been involved in attempts to conceal evidence.

Asked about that a spokesperson for Attorney General Linda Kelly’s office, said only that “we have an ongoing investigation which we’re not going to discuss.”

To read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/10/jerry_sandusky_2.html

Thirty states seek to expand mandatory reporting laws

Penn State sex abuse scandal behind rapid increase in laws

In the wake of the Penn State sex abuse scandal, about 105 bills on the reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect have been introduced in 2012 legislative sessions in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Legislation has since been enacted in 10 of those states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

According to the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) Oregon, West Virginia, Virginia, and South Dakota are among states that expanded their list of professions that are mandatory reporters, while Indiana and Iowa are requiring schools to develop new policies and reporting procedures for responding to suspected child abuse.

Indiana, also in response to the Penn State sex abuse scandal, passed legislation that requires the state to work with child sexual abuse experts to develop education materials, response policies, and reporting procedures on child sexual abuse, reported CSM. A new Iowa law requires schools to implement policy for employees in contact with children to report suspected physical or sexual abuse.

Also as a direct result of the Penn State sex abuse scandal, Florida has passed what is now the toughest mandatory reporting legislation in the country: Failure to report suspected child abuse is a felony, and universities would be fined $1 million and stripped of state funding for two years if officials don't report child abuse. According to CSM, the law applies to everyone — from university coaching staff to elementary school teachers to students.

Forty-eight states require at least some professionals to immediately report knowledge or suspicion of child sexual abuse to some authority, according to the NCSL. The list of professionals varies by state and can include teachers, school nurses, doctors, social workers, police, day care workers, coaches and camp counselors, reported the CSM.

Eighteen states have laws that require mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse by all adults. Many of those states have no specific sanctions for those who fail to comply with such laws, while others have penalties but they are not enforced unless a case is particularly heinous or deadly.

To read more:  http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0609/Sandusky-child-sex-abuse-scandal-raises-questions-about-state-laws

The Penn State Effect: Legislation that does more harm than good

The the ripple effect of the Penn State sex scandal and cover-up continues to impact state legislatures across the country. The Penn State Effect is the knee-jerk reaction to a situation resulting in legislation that does more harm than good.

 The West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved legislation to toughen the state's child abuse reporting laws, moving the bill to the full Senate for passage, according to the Charleston Daily Mail.

Passed by a voice vote of committee members, the bill expands the categories of people who are required by law to report any suspected child abuse or neglect and increases the penalties for those who fail to do so.

In West Virginia, school, law enforcement, and health care professionals are required to immediately report such cases to police. Faculty at public or private institutions — including universities — are legally bound to report such abuse to the institution's president, who is then responsible for calling police.

Lawmakers in Louisiana are also looking to expand child abuse reporting requirements.  Louisiana's legislative efforts could reach every citizen.Failure to report an act of child abuse would become a felony under legislation filed for the spring session of the Louisiana Legislature.

Senate Bill 4, by Senator J.P. Morrell, would set a maximum fine of $10,000, a jail sentence of five years or both for violators.  More importantly, the law would expand reporting requirements to any citizen who witnesses abusive acts and fails to report them.

Currently, 18 states require everyone to report child abuse. The other states require varying categories of people who come into contact with children in a professional capacity to do so. But many child welfare experts say that expanding the pool of mandated reporters could end up harming children rather than helping them, reporting Reuters. For one thing, child welfare investigators may become overwhelmed with specious reports. The time spent on those cases could take away from time investigating real cases of abuse.

"You'd have to employ an awful lot more case workers to deal with all these reports," Theo Liebmann, who directs the Hofstra Child Advocacy Clinic told Reuters. "You'd get some crazy stuff."

There is no statistical evidence that states with more expansive mandatory reporting laws protect children better than those with more restrictive definitions, experts say. In 1998, the lack of evidence about the effectiveness of mandatory reporting prompted the National Research Council to recommend not extending mandatory reporting laws to include cases of domestic violence.

 

To read more: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/01/failure_to_tell_police_about_c.html

PA: Law Enforcement Needs to Share Abuse Information

Pennsylvania lawmakers plan to introduce legislation that would require police to be immediately notified of suspects who are captured in law-enforcement databases that track online downloading of child pornography, reported The Associated Press.

Advocates said this week that the idea stems from the Penn State sex scandal and cover-up, and allegations that suggest sex abuse of a child witnessed by a university employee was never reported to the police.  However, there is no known connection between child pornography and the Penn State case.

The federal Department of Justice is required to share the database with states. The bill would require the attorney general's office to share the information with police and mandate dedicated state aid for task forces to investigate.

Camille Cooper of the National Association to Protect Children says that few states provide money for Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces to investigate leads in the databases, reported The Associated Press.

To read more: http://www.cumberlink.com/news/state-and-regional/article_0a7d099c-1c74-11e1-af1c-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1fRB0lzfp

Will Changes in Child Abuse Reporting Help or Hurt

Dean Richard J. Gelles of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice makes a compelling argument against expanding mandated reporter laws in Pennsylvania. As lawmakers scramble to make law in the wake of the Penn State sex scandal and cover-up, Gelles examines the ramification of a new more stringent reporting law in a recent Philadelphia Inquirer column.

Dean Gelles writes in part:

In 2009, the most recent year for which data are available, government agencies throughout the country received 3.3 million reports of suspected child abuse and neglect, involving some five million children. The agencies investigated two million of these reports, leaving about a million uninvestigated, primarily because they didn't include necessary information (e.g., the name or address of the victim or offender) or because they didn't meet the state's definition of child abuse or neglect. These two million investigations found that 442,000 children were actually abused or neglected, leaving 1.6 million reports for which the investigators were unable to uncover sufficient evidence that abuse or neglect had occurred.

The Inquirer column continues:

So what would happen if new laws forced more citizens to report suspicions of child abuse or else face stiff punishments? In all likelihood, the number of reports would increase (which is probably already happening in Pennsylvania). The staffs of the agencies that investigate those reports would also have to increase. But they would likely be using the same tools they use today to determine whether abuse occurred, and the increased reports would probably cause the substantiation rate to decline.

Dean Gelles concludes:

While I would like to believe that investigations alone increase the protection of children, I know otherwise. Forty years after the first federal mandatory reporting law was enacted, there isn't a single study showing that investigations alone increase the safety of children. Investigations without services do not prevent abuse.

To read more: http://articles.philly.com/2011-11-23/news/30433814_1_abuse-or-neglect-child-abuse-substantiation-rate/2 

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Penn State: U.S. Senate may Investigate Scandal and Cover-Up

U.S. Senator Bob Casey has asked for a hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions into how federal laws apply to the investigation of the child sex-abuse scandal and cover-up that has consumed Penn State University, reported The Associated Press.

Pennsylvania is not one of the 18 states that require all adults to report suspected child abuse.

Casey's request results from the Penn State sex scandal and cover-up allegedly involving to former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who is charged with abusing eight children over a 15-year period.

Also charged in the apparent cover-up were Penn State administrators former athletic director Tim Curley and former senior vice president Gary Schultz. They are accused of not reporting alleged abuse on the campus to law enforcement and with lying to a grand jury.

"The serious nature of these allegations and the evidence on the public record of failure to report by individuals at Penn State warrants an immediate review of the relationship between federal and state reporting requirements on child abuse and neglect" Casey, a Democrat, wrote in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

To read more:  http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/571087/Senator-wants-hearing-to-examine-PSU-s-handling-of-allegations.html?nav=5011

Penn State: Pennsylvania lags behind in reporting child abuse

Pennsylvania State Representative Dan Deasy intends to introduce legislation requiring anyone who witnesses a sex crime against a child or anyone who is told by a direct witness of such a crime to report it to police. Failure to report would be a felony of the third degree punishable by up to seven years in prison.

There are other legislative efforts to expand the number of professionals who are mandated to report.  The legislative scramble is in response to the alleged failure of Penn State coaches and administrators to report the alleged sexual assault of a child by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and the resulting cover-up.

Pennsylvania's current mandated reporter law does not seem to keep the state in line with national averages for reporting abuse of children.  According to the Wall Street Journal, last year, roughly 120,000 calls were made to the state hot line for child abuse calls administered by the state Department of Public Welfare. About 24,000 cases were investigated, three-quarters of which came from mandatory reporters, and 3,600 cases were substantiated as abuse.

In 2009, the rate of investigations in Pennsylvania, 8.3 per 1,000 children is lower than the national average of 40.3 per 1,000, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The rate of rate of substantiated cases of child abuse was also lower: 1.4 per 1,000 in Pennsylvania compared with 9.3 per 1,000 nationally.

To read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204190504577036513196362348.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Penn State: Mandated Reporter Law Under the Microscope

Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz have been charged with failure-to-report an incident of child abuse and perjury, a felony of the 3rd degree.

The charges relate to the alleged cover-up of child sexual assault allegedly committed by Jerry Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator for the Penn State football team who coached for more than 30 years.  Sandusky faces a 40-count indictment stemming from allegations he sexually abused eight boys over the course of at least 10 years.

The three men were charged following an 18 month investigation involving a state grand jury.  According to the grand jury presentment Curley and Schultz heard about an incident in 2002, but did not report it to authorities. That incident will be the linchpin of the state's case against Curley and Schultz.

Under the statute at issue — 23 Pa.C.S. Section 6311 — a mandated reporter must "[come] into contact with children" as part of his or her position. In 2002, when the alleged incident occurred, a prior version of the statute required an abused child to come directly into contact with a person "in their professional or official capacity" in order for them to be a mandated reporter.

According to article written by Ben Present for The Legal Intelligencer, an attorney specializing in child advocacy said the officials might have a "credible, if not very satisfying defense" on the failure to report charges because the alleged incident occurred when a more restrictive version of the law was in place.

"The law then was a bit more restrictive in establishing the obligation to report, so that for the administrator that heard about the report secondhand there wasn't arguably a legalistic standard," said Frank Cervone, executive director of the Support Center for Child Advocates. "One has to conclude these kids were strangers to the Penn State officials, whether or not they were visiting the building with Sandusky."

The grand jury has alleged Curley and Schultz, who worked above the university's police force, were made aware of the 2002 incident, in which Sandusky allegedly subjected his victim to anal sex in a Penn State locker room. It claims the officials took some action, such as barring the then-retired coach from bringing youths on the campus, but did not alert police. It alleged the two men never discussed doing so.
Cervone said the university's connection with Sandusky's long-standing charity, The Second Mile, was both important for the children involved and indicative of Penn State's responsibility to protect them. He said the prosecution would likely want to play up that relationship.

"Penn State was, in a most noble way, supporting that organization and those needy kids," Cervone said. "That connected them."

Presented interview Duquesne Law Professor Bruce Ledewitz, "Admittedly, [this incident] is a bit attenuated when compared to the typical scenario" he added.
According to Ledewitz neither of the men are implicated by the language of the statute. He noted the statute is not limited to listed categories, but added "that's going to be a strong argument for the application of this particular statute."

Both the prior and current versions of the statute list 24 persons required to report and "school administrator" is the closest to Curley or Schultz. Both statutes note the list is not limited to the positions enumerated.

Present also reported that other experts pointed to the case against the administrators as a chance to develop the law.

"The questions here are unique to both a university and an athletic department within the university," said John M. Burkoff, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh. "And while there may be other situations that are similar and will help a court decide what this means, a university setting and the particulars in this case may make the facts here distinguishable."

Burkoff said he is "quite certain" the case will lead to some type of appellate decision, but added the prosecution would not have brought the failure to report charges if it weren't confident it could obtain a conviction.

"The attorney general wouldn't have sought indictment under this as well as perjury if she didn't think that prosecution would be successful there, too," he said.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office echoed his sentiments. "We believe very firmly that in a situation like this — where it is reported to university officials that a young boy was sexually assaulted late at night in the showers at the football locker room on the Penn State campus, the statute absolutely applies," Nils Frederiksen wrote in an e-mail.

Frederiksen declined to comment on the implications of the change in the statute.

Thomas W. Sheridan, whose practice at Sheridan & Murray specializes in part in sexual abuse victims, said the egregious nature of the case led the prosecution to file all possible charges.

"The fact that this coach was permitted to continue to have access to those facilities after he was already investigated for sexual misconduct allowed him to become emboldened and to continue this abusive behavior," Sheridan said of the allegations. "What's critical here is these school officials failed to do anything when they learned the most horrific kind of child abuse. They took no action to discipline the coach. They took no action to help the child and they took no action to identify the child."

"They buried their heads in the sand," he said.

He called the situation "morally reprehensible" and called the case "shocking" from an ethical standpoint. He said Curley and Schultz should not be able to "argue legal technicalities to avoid responsibility for terrible behavior and bad judgment."

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