3 ms·
This law as written doesn't require a confession or proof, but only suspicion and not of a crime, but of the law's definition of 'child abuse' which at its broa
by cgriswald 1y ago
This law as written doesn't require a confession or proof, but only suspicion and not of a crime, but of the law's definition of 'child abuse' which at its broadest defines abuse as "...injury of a child by any person under circumstances which cause harm to the child's health, welfare, or safety,..." It also has a specific carve out for members of the clergy requiring them to report it even when they suspect it only from privileged conversations.
- wat10000 1y agoMandatory reporting is nothing new. Applying it to the confessional is. But I really don’t see a reason for the state to consider a confessional to be privileged in a legal sense. The religion’s views on its rituals carry no legal weight.
- cgriswald 1y agoThe state has already legal defined confession to be in the class of privileged conversations. Given the sensitive topics a person might address in confession, I think it is pretty easy to see why it might be privileged quite irrespective (and in fact, despite) the religions views on its own rituals.