| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
< BACK TO ARCHIVE |
| Date: From: Subject: | 7/3/2012 2:55:41 PM Mike Smith--HSLDA and Roy Hanson--FPM California: SB 1551 Defeated! A Great Victory for all Parents! |
|
====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== California: SB 1551 Defeated! A Great Victory for all Parents! From: Mike Smith--HSLDA and Roy Hanson--Family Protection Ministries Bill: SB 1551 - Universal Mandated Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse DEFEATED - A Tremendous Victory for All Adults and Parents! We Strongly Opposed! Status: SB 1551 Died in the Senate. SB 1551 would have required all adults, most of whom do not understand the complex definitions of sexual abuse in California law, to report any "reasonably suspected" child sexual abuse, even when based upon rumor alone. Under the proposed SB 1551, failure to report would be punishable by imprisonment and fines. Current law requires certain classes of persons to report under penalty of law while it encourages (but does not require) everyone to report suspected child abuse of any kind. SB 1551 would have resulted in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of untrained, ordinary, everyday people to report somebody for child sexual abuse based on "hearsay" alone. "Hearsay," according to Black's Law Dictionary, relies on something that an individual does not know personally, but only on what that individual has heard others say. It is impossible in most circumstances to determine the credibility of "hearsay" by itself as evidence of wrongdoing. We strongly agreed with the author's desire to protect children who are sexually abused. Known child sexual abuse is a hideous and perverse crime that needs to be reported! We favor cracking down on known child sexual abusers. However, SB 1551 would have created the potential of runaway unfounded reporting of alleged sexual abuse by creating a new crime that would have required all adults to report any "reasonable suspicion" (including those based upon only rumors) of child sexual abuse. SB 1551 Was Very Dangerous to the Lives and Freedoms of Everyone First, suppose after hearing a rumor of child sexual abuse, you choose not to report to authorities the rumored suspected sexual child abuse. In your judgment the rumor lacked credibility, or was vague, and was not child sexual abuse; you did not witness any abuse nor do you know of anyone who did. And suppose at the same time and unknown to you, another person heard the same rumor and did decide to report it. Under this scenario, you could be blindsided with an investigation, tried, and possibly convicted for failure to report the "rumor" because it was "third-hand hearsay" as described in the SB 1551. Second, SB 1551's emphasis on "hearsay" alone as sufficient evidence would likely have resulted in a large number of innocent California families (maybe you and your family) having to endure the trauma, the stigma, and the legal and financial burden of an investigation of alleged child abuse, even if the reports on these families were ultimately determined to be completely "unfounded." Already, under California's current law, over 75% of the over 200,000 reports of child abuse per year fail to be substantiated as child abuse. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, Child Maltreatment Report for 2010). If this bill had not been stopped, these numbers would have significantly increased. We ought not to forget that an essential element of Hitler and his socialist Nazi Party's rise to power over Germany was to make every one legally responsible for "reporting" their neighbors, family, and anyone to the authorities based upon suspicion and rumor alone. People were driven to err on the side of reporting out of fear of being prosecuted for failure to report. It is a terrible kind of world to live in when you are "looking over your shoulder all the time" - never knowing whether your neighbor, associate, or extended family member is going to falsely report you. The end never justifies the means! The means must be justified by itself. God is concerned as much with the means as He is with the ends. FPM worked long hours, behind the scenes to defeat this dangerous bill. The work FPM did on this bill included researching, formulating technical wording for detailed arguments against it, and communicating with various legislators and organizations. HSLDA is blessed to be able to provide legal counsel and other help from HSLDA's Mike Smith to help our friends understand and respond correctly to legislation like this. The defeat of SB 1551 is a great victory for all parents and their children and for the U.S. constitutional rule of law. Additional Background of SB 1551 SB 1551 would have effectively required second hand and third hand multiple sources of "hearsay" to be used as a stand-alone basis of reasonable suspicion for the mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse by untrained persons. For example, the proposed SB 1551 stated: (a) A person who fails to report when the unreported information or evidence would cause a reasonable suspicion of child sexual abuse, for instance receipt of multiple sources of third-hand information, is guilty of negligent failure to report, a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in county jail, a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment. (page 2, lines 24-29; emphasis added) This language allowed for the situation where one soccer parent observes the coach pat a child on the rear during a game and relates the incident to another parent, expressing questions about whether the touch was sexually motivated. Soon another parent is brought into the conversation that in turn passes the thoughts to other parents. Ultimately, another parent, not privy to the initial conversation, has heard multiple sources of third hand information and must report under the proposed language. Thus, "gossip" would have become the basis for a report -- not the already low reasonable suspicion standard that current mandated reporters are given training to understand. Not only is the above scenario realistic, a further egregious potential exists. Say the parent who ultimately hears the "buzz" relates the story to a trusted co-worker. The co-worker expresses serious reservation of making an accusation based on third-hand, hearsay-based information. Instead of reporting as would have been mandated by SB 1551, the parent is persuaded by his co-worker to exercise restraint. Under SB 1551, the co-worker would have been subject to up to ten years in prison for influencing the parent to not report. (page 3, lines 13-19) SB 1551 was unnecessary because current law (Penal Code's Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act - CANRA) specifies that any adult who is not a mandated reporter (P.C. Section 11165.7) "may report" a known, or reasonably suspected, incident of any child abuse or neglect. SB 1551 would have inappropriately imposed this reporting requirement on every adult in California. There is no type or amount of training that could be expected to provide the understanding necessary to implement this proposed requirement in the course of his or her daily life. California is populated with individuals of diverse backgrounds - linguistically, educationally, economically, culturally, etc. Additionally, California's population is very transient, especially with new individuals regularly entering the state. First, there are no media through which to effectively educate everyone in California in the details of their responsibilities under this proposed law. Second, there can be no expectation that any instruction provided would be understood or implemented as expected. This is in contrast to the information and training given to mandated reporters concerning their responsibilities in the course of their employment (P.C. Sections 11165.7 & 11166.5). SB 1551 would have also unfairly placed upon the general public, the risk of arrest and punishment for not reporting. This would have involved many good innocent people forced to endure a traumatic, expensive, time-consuming trial and possible fine and imprisonment. SB 1551 also inappropriately assumed that every legal category of "sexual abuse" could be both understood and recognized by every adult in California. The term "sexual abuse" has a complex, legal definition in the Penal Code (Section 11165.1), with multiple references to other sections in the Code. SB 1551 would have caused a large increase in the number of false reports made by the public. SB 1551 would have made the failure to report child sexual abuse punishable by imprisonment and/or a fine. Motivated by a fear of being imprisoned and/or being fined, combined with a lack of a detailed understanding about what to report (i.e., not understanding what "sexual abuse" includes, and not understanding what "reasonable suspicion" is) would have resulted in an unnecessary and significantly large increase in reports to peace officers and child protective services. The large percentage of false reports of child abuse would have gone much higher than the current rate of over 75% -- a terrible waste of limited resources, damaging many innocent lives. SB 1551 would have increased the likelihood that children already in danger of abuse would not get the quality of help they need. The increased workload would have directed a significant amount of peace officers' and CPS workers' time and energy away from working on cases based on credible reports of serious abuse or neglect. Resources to protect these children would have been tragically taken from those known abused children. SB 1551 would have also adversely affected many innocent individuals and families. Many innocent families and individuals would have been falsely accused of child sexual abuse and forced to endure the hardship, stigma and the legal and financial burdens of an investigation, which would result from an unnecessary increase of reports, a large number of which would ultimately be unfounded. When innocent parents are traumatized and damaged, their children suffer too. We thank God for this wonderful victory! No action is required on SB 1551. We greatly value you and your support--it is a privilege to serve you! If you or someone you know is not a member of HSLDA, will you consider taking a moment today to join or recommend us and support our work defending individual families threatened by government officials and protecting homeschooling freedom for all? Join now >> http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=14438 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> How long are you in for? Some families are facing what seems like a lifelong commitment to homeschooling, with children at both ends of the spectrum -- some graduating and some just reaching school age. If you're going to be "in" for a while, consider a lifetime membership with HSLDA. It's a good deal for families with more than 10 years of homeschooling ahead. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1936 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. Box 3000 Purcellville, Virginia 20134 Phone: (540) 338-5600 Fax: (540) 338-2733 Email: info@hslda.org Web: http://www.hslda.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- How To Subscribe: - Subscribe to the HSLDA E-lert Service at our website: https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp?Process=Subscribe - Or send an email with name and complete mailing address to: subscribe@hslda.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscription Information: - You subscribed to the HSLDA E-lert Service as: ##ToAddress## - To unsubscribe from the HSLDA E-lert Service send an email from the email address you want to unsubscribe to: unsubscribe@hslda.org - To change your email address or make other changes to your subscription, visit the HSLDA E-lert Service account web page at: https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTMASTERS: This message is being sent to the most recent address we have for our subscribers. If this is an invalid email address or you have other problems, please reply to webmaster@hslda.org. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: This is considered a private and confidential message from HSLDA to its bonafide HSLDA E-lert Service subscribers. HSLDA cannot attest to the authenticity of copies posted, forwarded, or sent by any party other than HSLDA. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: Please do not reply or otherwise use this email address; hslda@hslda.org is for broadcast purposes only and is not intended to receive incoming messages. We cannot reply to any email sent to this address. If you have comments or questions, please send email to info@hslda.org or call HSLDA at 540-338-5600. HSLDA members can also email staff directly through the Members website at http://members.hslda.org/contact.asp. Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
