Are House leaders "mandatory reporters"?

[longship]

As a high school teacher, I was required to sign an affidavit that I was aware that CA has a law mandating people who work with children to be "mandatory reporters". What that means if there is even a suspicion of funny business, which includes any number of crimes against underage youths, failure to report such suspicions to authorities is itself a crime. I'm not sure how far these mandatory reporter laws extend, but it is very possible that DC and FL also have such requirements.

The purpose of mandatory reporter is clear. Anybody whose job includes interaction with underage youth is not allowed to decide on their own whether a crime has been committed. It is solely up to the law enforcement agencies to do that. In the case of sexual predation, like with Mark Foiley, it should be obvious that the political interests trumped those of the young men. In such cases, those who protected him would be just as guilty as the pervert.

In other words, could the Repuke House leadership be in violation of law for covering this up for months?

I think this is worth looking into.

[yorkiemommie1]

1. as a mandated reporter myself

i wondered that, too.

[uppityperson]

2. Good question.

[Benhurst]

3. Knowing how Congress works, I doubt it. They usually protect

themselves from the laws governing us mere mortals.

However, morally they are definitely "mandatory reporters," and those aware of the situation should not be allowed to get away with this, from the Speaker of the House on down.

[Sherman A1]

8. Correct!

so many of the laws they pass, simply do not apply to the Congress of the United States.. What a deal!

[valerief]

4. Wouldn't that mean the prisons should be filled to the brim with

priests and bishops?

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Yes indeed it does

[peaches2003]

5. The spin has started

I was listening to am XM 165 talk show today and the spin going on is 'What did you expect Boehner and Hastert to do?' Foley wasn't breaking a law (a 16 yr old does not qualify as pedophelia), so why would they say anything?

Talk about parsing words. These people are completely immoral! Oh how I miss Mike Malloy being on the air!

[longship]

7. This is a ridiculous claim.

The mandatory reporter laws are on the books precisely to prevent people like the House leadership from making those determinations on their own. If, as it looks likely, that there is a federal law on the books mandating reporting, the House leadership could be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.

In other words, they do not have the authority to decide whether Foley has violated the law.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

9. Sure! 52-year-olds hit on 16-year-olds all the time!

It's perfectly natural AND legal! Where's the problem?


In case it's not obvious:
:sarcasm:

[originalpckelly]

6. All federal employees must report sexual abuse, here is the law:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00002258----000-.html

I will have to look into the laws further, but at this point I believe the Speaker and his associates, if they knew of this in enough detail, could be seeing some jail time.

[longship]

10. Thanks for this.

I have e-mailed Josh Marshall with my OP and your link.

Maybe we've hit on something important.

[G Hawes]

11. I think that depends on

what section 226 of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 says and which "professional capacities" and "activities" are described in that section.

But I haven't been able to find the text of the Act online yet.

[G Hawes]

12. I found it. It doesn't apply to all federal employees.

It applies to the following:

(b) Covered professionals
Persons engaged in the following professions and activities are
subject to the requirements of subsection (a) of this section:
(1) Physicians, dentists, medical residents or interns,
hospital personnel and administrators, nurses, health care
practitioners, chiropractors, osteopaths, pharmacists,
optometrists, podiatrists, emergency medical technicians,
ambulance drivers, undertakers, coroners, medical examiners,
alcohol or drug treatment personnel, and persons performing a
healing role or practicing the healing arts.
(2) Psychologists, psychiatrists, and mental health
professionals.
(3) Social workers, licensed or unlicensed marriage, family,
and individual counselors.
(4) Teachers, teacher's aides or assistants, school counselors
and guidance personnel, school officials, and school
administrators.
(5) Child care workers and administrators.
(6) Law enforcement personnel, probation officers, criminal
prosecutors, and juvenile rehabilitation or detention facility
employees.
(7) Foster parents.
(8) Commercial film and photo processors.

Edit to add link: http://www.washingtonwatchdog.org/documents/usc/ttl42/ch132/subchIV/sec13031.html

[longship]

13. But it *does* provide leverage on the issue.

If the House passed a bill that *requires* all these professions to report, how can the House leadership claim that they did not need to report this?

[G Hawes]

16. Easily, unfortunately

By saying that the list is exhaustive and they are not on it.

I certainly think that they should be on it. But they are not.

Hopefully, they will be in the future.

[G Hawes]

17. One other thing I found

is that the punishment section that was cited above by originalpckelly was amended by section 209 of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, as follows:

SEC. 209. CHILD ABUSE REPORTING.
Section 2258 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by
striking ``guilty of a Class B misdemeanor'' and inserting ``fined
under this title or imprisoned not more than 1 year or both''.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Good point

I am a mandated reporter too and I hadn't thought of this but I believe you might be right. :hi: