A step foward in Wisconsin re clergy reporting abuse...except most abuse is revealed in private conversations. Statute of limitations increased. Sidepoint, does the WTS consider themselves "clergy"?
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/apr04/223459.asp
Clergy must report sex abuse under new law
Exceptions made for private conversations
By STACY FORSTER
[email protected]
Posted: April 19, 2004
Madison - Members of the clergy in Wisconsin are required to report incidents of suspected sexual abuse to authorities under a new law signed Monday by Gov. Jim Doyle.
After nearly two years of effort by victims-rights advocates, Doyle signed a bill mandating that religious leaders alert authorities when they suspect a child is being abused by fellow clergy. While supporters of the law called it a victory, they said they will continue to push for more strict legislation, and Doyle said he would sign an even tougher bill if it came across his desk.
The new law provides an exception for information clergy members receive in private conversations, meaning that communications such as confessions would fall outside the reporting requirements.
That immunizes religious officials from being completely forthright, said Peter Isely, Midwest director for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a national victims-rights organization.
"Under no circumstances will they have to report, because how they find out about abuse is going to be through private communications," Isely said. "Almost everything is going to be covered."
When it comes to suspicions of abuse, communications with clergy aren't any different from conversations a school guidance counselor or teacher might have with a young person, Doyle said. In those cases, the potential abuse must be reported.
"We need to be able to protect that child and other children, and that trumps confidentiality," Doyle said.
Protecting confessions
Jerry Topczewski, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, said Catholic church leaders have been considering the best way to release and act on the information it has about sex abusers within the clergy. But he noted that confession is a core tenant of Catholicism and said priests shouldn't be asked to violate that. Instead, he said, clergy who learn of abuse within a confession are urged to find another way to prompt an abuser to come forward with that information.
"A priest has an obligation to try to move that person from the seal of the confessional to the confession of that act," Topczewski said.
The law also increases the amount of time child sexual-abuse victims have to file a lawsuit against an abuser or a religious organization. Victims now have until age 45 to file criminal action, up from age 31. They now will be able to file a civil suit until age 31; previously, a civil action had to begin within five years of discovery of the abuse.
The clergy abuse bill was one of nine pieces of legislation Doyle signed Monday.
In another measure intended to protect children, Doyle signed a bill that will improve the process of investigating the backgrounds of school bus drivers.
Criminal background checks of drivers will now be done every four years instead of every eight. The measure also expands the lists of crimes and offenses that disqualify someone from becoming a bus driver to include crimes against children, such as sexual assault and child neglect. Under the previous law, convictions for these crimes would not have disqualified someone from becoming a bus driver.
The law grew out of well-documented cases of abuse, such as one involving a Milwaukee bus driver who is charged with hitting and shouting at Jacob Mutulo, a 9-year-old boy with Down syndrome, while the boy was strapped in a seat.
Doyle on Monday also signed legislation that:
From the April 20, 2004 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
edited to remove object obscuring text - Scully