Massachusetts Enacts Law Forcing Clergy to Report Abuse
Originally published by Reuters, May 3, 2002
BOSTON (Reuters) — A bill requiring clergy to report information about suspected abuse cases to state social workers became law on Friday in Massachusetts, which has been roiled by allegations of child sex abuse in Boston's Roman Catholic Archdiocese.
The new law, signed by acting Gov. Jane Swift, gives clergy, congregational leaders and church youth workers 30 days from the signing to turn over any information about child abuse—no matter how old—to the Massachusetts Department of Social Services. Violation is a misdemeanor offense that carries a fine of up to $1,000.
Child advocates have worked for years to get a clergy abuse law on the books. But pressure for its passage has escalated in recent months amid allegations that the Boston Archdiocese covered up decades of child abuse by priests.
The new law does not require clergy to report any information gained through the Catholic confessional or through similar confidential channels observed by other faiths.
The law was signed about an hour after former Boston-area priest Paul Shanley waived extradition from California to Massachusetts to face charges that he repeatedly raped a boy in the confessional, rectory and bathroom of a suburban church during the 1980s.
