EVERY SIGNATURE MATTERS - THIS BILL MUST PASS!

EVERY SIGNATURE MATTERS - THIS BILL MUST PASS!
CLICK - GOAL - 100,000 NEW SIGNATURES! 75,000 SIGNATURES HAVE ALREADY BEEN SUBMITTED TO GOVERNOR CUOMO!

CLICK!

Thursday, June 06, 2019

An individual may not intentionally prevent or interfere with the making of a report of suspected abuse or neglect as required by law. A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction, is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or a fine not exceeding $10,000 or both....


Maryland Finally Enacts Penalties for Failure to Report Child Abuse




On April 18, 2019, Maryland took a big step towards protecting children when Governor Hogan signed a law creating criminal penalties for a mandated reporter who fails to report child sexual abuse. Mandatory reporting laws date back to the Child Abuse and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 1974, and require certain people with knowledge of child abuse to report it to authorities. Until this 2019 legislation, Maryland was one of only two US states (the other being Wyoming) to have mandated reporting on the books, but have no criminal penalty failing to report child abuse. Imagine lowering the speed limit to save lives, but then having no tickets for speeding. A law with no penalty is no law at all. While past failure to report could result in civil liability for the person not reporting abuse immediately, Maryland House Bill 787 establishes criminal penalties. Versions of this bill have been proposed in Maryland for over 15 years, so the passage is a cause for celebration.

After my family was victimized in the state of Maryland by a member of the clergy, I learned that Maryland has some of the worst protections for sexual abuse survivors in the United States. Maryland police regularly ignore reports of rape, closing them as “unfounded” at nearly twice the rate in other states. When a victim pushes their case, police in Maryland force victims to sign waivers or recant entirely. And when a victim has the nerve to question the police, Maryland state attorneys are alleged to get aggressive not with sex abusers, but with abuse victims. Maryland also lacks strong anti-SLAPP laws to protect those who report abuse from being sued for defamation by their abusers. Even teachers indicated by CPS for abuse (but not prosecuted) get transferred from school to school, and only in 2018 did Maryland’s largest school system complete CPS background checks of teachers. If you like the beach, you move to Florida. If you like to ski, you move to Colorado. 

Maryland’s legal environment makes it a sandy beach (or a powdery ski slope) for those who like to sexually abuse children.  
 
In fact, Maryland Delegate C.T. Wilson noted that Catholic priests seeking to escape punishment for abuse in Pennsylvania have been relocating to Maryland. Wilson plainly stated, “Maryland was a repository for bad actors because we had soft laws.”




The first big recent change to Maryland’s hostile environment to victims came in 2017 when Wilson sponsored a bill to expand the civil statute of limitations window from 25 to 38, understanding that it can take decades for abuse survivors to come forward. With a criminal justice system easy on sexual abuse, expanding the civil window is the next best step for victims to obtain justice.

The next big change came in 2018 when I had the honor and privilege to provide testimony to Annapolis in support of the Repeat Sexual Predator Prevention Act, being championed by Baltimore City States Attorney Marilyn Mosby. Prior to this act, in the rare circumstance police investigated sex crimes, and in the rarer circumstance charges were filed, the rules of evidence in Maryland prevented prosecutors from introducing evidence of other sexual crimes. Maryland’s rules prevented the introduction of patterns of sexually abusive behavior as evidence (including multiple victims). The 2018 law had languished in committee for years, being opposed by Jewish leadership, Catholic leadership, and criminal defense attorneys. Once it got out of committee, it passed, and Maryland took another big step towards protecting children and other victims of sexual abuse. However, the accompanying bill to establish criminal penalties for not reporting child abuse did not make it to a vote in 2018.

In 2019 Maryland took the next big step in victim protection, when the criminal penalties not only got a vote, but were signed into law.  I cannot find another article celebrating Governor Hogan signing this bill, and it is quite important in the battle to improve the law and make sure no other family goes through what my family has endured.

Maryland’s failure to report law previously did not address penalties for violations, only penalties for interfering in a report.  Maryland Family Law § 5-705.2 stated:
An individual may not intentionally prevent or interfere with the making of a report of suspected abuse or neglect as required by law. A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction, is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or a fine not exceeding $10,000 or both.
No penalty was established for those who delayed reporting or failed to report altogether. Even Maryland legislators had no idea the gaping hole in their own law. Maryland Senator Joan Carter Conway (D-Baltimore) said,
I was shocked. I didn’t realize that we were only one of two [states without penalties for failure to report]
The new law faced opposition from those who thought the punishment was draconian, and that taking away professional licensing was punishment enough for failure to report. In fact, Del Kathleen Dumais (D-Montgomery) reportedly said that since the 2015 license revocation law hadn’t been used, they shouldn’t pass more laws. Arguments like these, combined with opposition from the Jewish and Catholic lobbies kept this bill languishing in committee.

The new law modifies Section 5-704 of the Maryland Code of Family law where mandated reporters are defined by adding the following language:
(B) A PERSON WHO VIOLATES THIS SECTION IS GUILTY OF A MISDEMEANOR AND ON CONVICTION IS SUBJECT TO A FINE NOT EXCEEDING $10,000 OR IMPRISONMENT NOT EXCEEDING 3 YEARS OR BOTH.
While this law alone does not solve the sexual assault investigation and prosecution gap in Maryland, it does provide a tool for more progressive prosecutors to begin unraveling this crime.
Unfortunately loopholes still exist. Maryland Code of Family Law Section 5-704 defines mandatory reporters as:
…health practitioner, police officer, educator, or human service worker, acting in a professional capacity
But Maryland Code of Family Law Section 5-705 provides an exemption from these laws from clergy if they are:
bound to maintain the confidentiality of that communication under canon law, church doctrine, or practice
Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky

Unfortunately, the clergy exemption is still too prevalent in many states. Maryland law does not clearly differentiate between a Rabbi operating within confidential canon law/rabbinic doctrine, and a Rabbi who is working as a teacher, a school principal, a camp director, or a medical doctor. The largest Jewish community in Maryland mostly follows the rulings of the Agudath Israel of America, who requires rabbinic approval prior to reporting abuse. One of the largest religious schools specifically brings questions to Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky who also requires Rabbinic screening of child abuse prior to reporting. Rabbis in Maryland trained at the local Ner Israel rabbinic college advise that when there is an indication of abuse, people should
Call CHANA [our religiously directed private community organization], and together with their guidance and support, they will help you navigate if and when to involve the police, CPS, or whatever may be most appropriate.
Should a school principal, teacher, or healthcare worker be charged under the new mandatory reporting law, the vague wording will put prosecutors and judges in the uncomfortable situation of litigating the intricacies of Jewish law (halacha). Will the rabbis who delay reporting abuse while they run internal investigations be able to claim their behavior is in keeping with canon Orthodox Jewish law? What makes a person a Rabbi? In the ultra-Orthodox world, often a formal ordination (smicha) process is not required, merely a letter from a school principal (Rosh Yeshiva) calling a student a Rabbi. Could a school teacher charged under the new law get a last minute smicha exempting him from the law?
 
Catholic opposition to clergy reporting is actually starting to abate, led by new initiatives. It certainly helps that prosecutors in Maryland have started to look through files of the archdiocese of Baltimore. As of today, the most vocal opponents of mandatory clergy reporting are not Catholic but Jewish. In response to mandatory clergy reporting laws being debated in neighboring Washington DC and Virginia, Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld provided what I would term a strawman argument as he commented:
Turning clergy into policemen is very dangerous…….If we try to hurt how religious societies function, it will hurt children
Ron Halber of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington offered tepid support to clergy reporting, but then walked it back with the caveat:
In some traditions there are privileged communications that take place between religious authorities and parishioners. We want to make sure there’s nothing blocking free exercise
It is ironic that prosecutors in Maryland are investigating the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, but have made no public inquiries into the Jewish Archdiocese (known as the Vaad of Baltimore and Vaad of Greater Washington). A push for mandatory clergy reporting in Maryland as is currently under debate in DC and Virginia would be a great first step.
 
The problem is that Maryland Code Sections 5-704 and Sections 5-705 are in conflict due to the vague language. The legislature could fix this in at least two ways. First, narrow the legal definition of clergy-communicant privilege by defining who can claim the religious exemption and when. A Priest must have a church, and a Rabbi must have a synagogue. The disclosure must be in a recognized protected conversation. Right now the law fails to clearly differentiate abuse learned through spiritual privilege, and abuse heard through other means, such as while playing a game of basketball. The aforementioned Jewish community group that reportedly chooses which cases to report to police will sometimes refer abuse victims to a Rabbi for therapy. Is that Rabbi required to report child abuse he learns about because he is a therapist, or is he exempt from reporting because he is a Rabbi? The law does not make it clear.

Even better, the second way would be to just do away with this exemption and solve the problem as dozens of other states have already done (and has been largely upheld by the courts such as in California). There are limits to what you can do under the guise of religion. Freedom of religion doesn’t permit human sacrifice. Most states rule that freedom of religion does not permit child brides and polygamy. Even the religious exemption for vaccination is being reconsidered. Likewise, we should not allow child abuse or child abuse disclosure to be protected as a religious act.

Ultimately, the vague clergy exemption will need to be litigated by the first prosecutor who is courageous enough to challenge the Jewish and Catholic lobby in the state of Maryland. It is important that elected officials begin to ask difficult questions of those in law enforcement who seem more angered by vocal victims than by abusers. Abusive prosecutors and abusive sheriffs are nothing new, and despite operating under broad immunity, federal investigations and groups like the ACLU have worked to reform these practices. Ultimately, the citizenry has to demand accountability from those in charge. Prosecutorial tolerance for Orthodox Jewish abusers and those who fail to report abuse such as has been documented in Baltimore, Lakewood, and Brooklyn must end.

Publicize this new law. Call the editors at the Baltimore Sun, the Frederick News Post, and the Washington Post and ask them why they haven’t covered this legislation. It will soon be a criminal offense to fail to report child sexual abuse for mandatory reporters. It is time citizens of Maryland ask prosecutors running for States Attorney what they have done to enforce this new law and to ask legislators to stop allowing religious exemptions for mandatory reporting of child abuse. It is also time to build on the success of 2018 and 2019 by rallying for mandatory clergy reporting, police investigatory reform, removing the civil statute of limitations (which sadly failed in 2019), and anti-SLAPP free speech legislation for survivors of sexual assault.

Note: I am not a lawyer and this column is not meant as legal advice but merely opinion on public legislation. If you have questions on your own legal situation, consult a competent attorney. Always report child abuse to the proper authorities in your state.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/maryland-finally-enacts-penalties-for-failure-to-report-child-abuse/?fbclid=IwAR055e95Ti4BcwCvDTSng4B5pHZUr1k6EnpX35DgCdOyFM8LvFauhudvr40

3 comments:

Sheftel Neuberger said...

Oh crap!

MEANWHILE IN BALTIMORE... (PART 1 OF 2) said...

Not long ago, a Ner Israel Rabbinical College dormitory (Baltimore) had a picture of the late rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman hanging next to its bathroom entrance. The photo, originally pinned up by one of rabbi Moshe Eisemann’s relatives, hung there for years before NIRC bosses decided to install security cameras to film their horny boys rushing to fap. The chiefs did not want rabbi Shteinman’s bathroom picture to get on tape (and perhaps consequently jeopardize their office), so it got removed. Yitzchok Yehudah (Robert) Feuereisen, a scamp who spied on everyone at NIRC, passed by that picture hundreds of times but, of course, did nothing to stop the disgrace. Now he came out with a new blue cover booklet, devoted to… rabbi Shteinman! Yet nobody should suspect Feuereisen of hallowing that great Israeli rabbi or somehow repenting. Feuereisen never cared about rabbi Shteinman. Thus, he also did not care that the Psalm 121:4 was readily misquoted on his cover (שומר > שמר), and that (on that very cover) he initially referred to rabbi Shteinman as זצוק"ל (righteous and holy man of blessed memory) but then degraded him to זצ"ל (omitting the holiness). Naturally, throughout the pamphlet he also never cared about any grammar or spelling rules (and even made his hallmark homosexual רבעים Freudian slip).
Nevertheless, all such flaws have almost no importance when we examine his core constructs.

Feuereisen wrote: “[I]dea of digging a בור (pit) is nothing new to us. The אבות הקדושים [Patriarchs] dug בורות. {…} The other בור that one need not be afraid of was the בור that יוסף הצדיק [righteous Joseph] was thrown into. For it too was a בור רוחני, a spiritual בור” (p. 2). Apparently, that lunacy wasn’t enough for him, so he proceeded to make another groundless claim that pits mentioned in the Talmud (Bava Kama), which measure nine or ten handbreadths, represent, in fact, spiritual difficulties and added the following daring asininity: “A בור י'‏ [ten handbreadths’ pit] exceeds even מט' שערי טומאה‎ [49 Gates of Uncleanliness]” (p. 4). Feuereisen went on to rebuke “those in בני ישראל [Jewish nation] who get too excited and become too inspired with the culture of the אומת העולם [other nations] which is הבל הבלים הכל הבל [vanity of vanities, all is vanity]… to the point where they dig themselves into a בור ט'‏ [nine handbreadths’ pit]” (p. 6) and then advised his readers to study everything about rabbi Shteinman in “Reb Aharon Leib” published by venal Art$croll.

MEANWHILE IN BALTIMORE... (PART 2 OF 2) said...

Strange indeed to hear someone criticize the contemporary gentile culture to the point of calling it vanity, when that person himself has been a ruthless snitch and slumlord living in luxury. Similarly, when saying that rabbi Shteinman was against expelling boys from schools, Feuereisen even boldfaced the phrase “Rav Shteinman would call that גאווה [conceit]. One cannot build תורה [Torah] with גאווה” (p. 8). Amazing to hear these lofty words from the man who must be held responsible for expelling dozens of adolescent students from NIRC! Feuereisen also said: “הקב"ה [God] made it that the נחשים ועקרבים [snakes and scorpions], the יצר הרע [evil inclination] did not recognize יוסף [Joseph] as a בן תורה [religious man]. If to them יוסף was not a בן תורה then he is no threat to them and was therefore left alone” (p. 3). Nevertheless, using Feuereisen’s methodology, we can say that it is good to be forced out of NIRC because that shows its “snakes and scorpions” recognized their victim as a devout Jew!

Feuereisen’s rabbi Shteinman (much like Art$croll’s) is an imaginary fake character: “If יצחק אבינו [Isaac] would have been allowed to go into חוץ לארץ [abroad], we would have observed him doing mundane things. Perhaps working for someone…. a diminished status…. An עלה [sanctified] cannot work for anyone, he belongs totally to ה'‏ [God]” (p. 12). Feuereisen makes it clear: If you work for someone, you are “diminished.” As a slumlord who never works, he, at least, practices what he preaches. Still, Feuereisen would not be Feuereisen without his usual cabbalistic crap: “[Everyone] recognized in him [rabbi Shteinman] that he is truly a person who has in him מים [water]. He is a יש בו מים [has water within]” (p. 11); “Rav Shteinman lived his full life of 104 years which is the מספר [number] of the word נחמו. Rav Shteinman was a true comfort for all of כלל ישראל [Israel]” (p. 13; the number 104 also corresponds to wicked and corrupt סדם [Sodom], but Feuereisen picks only the meanings suiting his exegesis). Finally (p. 14), he ended his gobbledygook by saying that God made rabbi Shteinman die on Chanukah eve to let him light holiday candles “בפמליה של מעלה” (in the Heavenly entourage).

In his occult calculations, Yitzchok Yehudah (Robert) Feuereisen never mentions that the number of his נר ישראל [Ner Israel Rabbinical College] is 791 – the same as מקום השקר [place of falsity]. Pedophile teachers and homophile students, Mafia leadership and corrupt discipleship – this is the legacy of NIRC that helped shape the contemporary American Jewish-Orthodox landscape. Hence, “the Torah” they pretended to “receive” this past Shavuot is nothing more than an Art$croll softcover wrapped in a condom peppered with Feuereisen’s ten handbreadths’ holes.