It's the right thing to report child abuse to the authorities, whether it's the law or not. A group that claims to be the only true religion, Gods sole channel of communication with mankind, shouldn't need a law to force them to do the right thing.
Elders are actually not as capable as anyone else in deciding if an offender is likely to abuse again, they have no absolutely no training in counseling, psychology or child abuse. The many pedophiles who abused children for years, even after being reported to the elders, is proof of that.
The excuse that most child abuse is not prosecuted anyway is ridiculous. Many crimes cannot be prosecuted for whatever reason, does that means you throw up your hands and give up? You do whatever you can to protect children, unless of course protecting children is not actually your first consideration.
The idea that two witness rule cannot be changed is laughable, the Watchtower changes rules all the time, they interpret the scriptures however they want and change that interpretation when it suits them. It clearly doesn't suit them to protect children.
The idea that they punish child molesters is beyond ridiculous. The two witness rule pretty much insures child abusers will rarely be punished. Even then they can opt for private reproof, which is a slap on the wrist and does nothing to protect children. The idea they can monitor the person is silly, they see the person a few hours a week. The Candace Conti case shows that even when a pedophile is known to the elders they will do nothing to prevent contact with children. I personally know of a case where a known pedophile married a woman with children, less than a year after offending, and the elders did nothing, not even warn her, my friend got in trouble for telling her about it. This was a case where he actually admitted the abuse and was prosecuted.
Repentance goes a long way? Since when? This is actually quite disturbing, as it proves their complete lack of awareness of the risks. It's fairly well known that sexual preference for children is hard wired in child abusers and the possibility they will reoffend is quite high. Of course a child abuser will act sorry, but that's only after they have been caught, I doubt the elders could tell the difference between true repentance and "sorry I got caught". Even if they are repentant they are still a risk, you don't put children at risk.
Yes, it's possible an abuser will not reoffend, but you don't risk innocent children on a possibility. Their justifications and excuses are disgusting.
